Loss of waste characteristic - requirements and consequences
A product status for the recovered materials can produce a whole range of advantages: Transport movements, including cross-border, are simplified and it is frequently easier to obtain the required permits for plants, storage and transport movements.
Product status
A whole range of requirements have to be fulfilled in order to acquire product status; the legislator has specified several conditions, compliance with which must be verified. For several common products such as iron, steel, aluminium and copper scrap or waste class, appropriate regulations have been drawn up through the Joint Research Centre and the European Commission. They are in progress or under discussion for plastics, paper, textiles and other wastes. bifa supports several customers in drawing up end-of-waste criteria for various, special and smaller material flows, for which no such European regulations are available. In particular, the end of waste characteristic according to §5 KrWG (German Recycling Management Law) was checked. Here a material loses its waste characteristic if a recovery process is run through, a market or demand exists, the technical and legal requirements are fulfilled and it can be used without risk to humans or the environment. The check for end of waste characteristic is carried out according to the specifications of the KrWG. In the case of electrical scrap the German implementation of the EU WEEE Directive in national law (ElektroG) was also used.
Legal framework
If the processed waste acquires product status it is subject to a different legal framework yet again; for example, REACH, the CLP Regulation, ChemG (Chemical Law or Product Safety Law may apply. The work involved in verifying conformity with the relevant product laws can be substantial in individual cases.