Legislative definition of waste

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Definition and Classification of Waste

Definition of Rejection:
It defines itself “I decline” any substance or object that falls into the categories listed in Annex A (to Part Four of Legislative Decree. 152/06) and of which the holder discards or has decided or is obliged to discard.

According to this definition, the distinction between what is a refusal and what is not depends on the existence of two circumstances: the substance or object must be included in the list of Annex A and that whoever holds it intends or must discard it. The absence of one or the other would be sufficient to rule out that it is a refusal. In reality, the list of categories mentioned above is very concise (in fact there are only 16 categories) and generic (such as voices “Production or consumption residues not specified below” or “Any substance, material or product that does not fall into the categories listed above). It follows that anything can be part of the list and therefore belonging to it is no longer a circumstance to be verified to determine whether a substance or object can be considered a waste or not. In other words, the distinction between what is waste and what is not, it is all linked to the concept of “discard”, which can become a non-univocal application criterion in “boundary hypothesis”, that is, when dealing with residues and waste, mostly processing, reused as raw materials in other production processes.

I “Non-Waste”

The Legislative Decree. 152/2006 it also contains some provisions for identifying the conditions in the presence of which some types of resulting materials are not classified as waste. These provisions essentially consist of the definitions of:
– Secondary Raw Material (MPS)
– By-product
– Recovery Product
as well as the regulation of the reuse of excavated earth and rocks.

Secondary Raw Materials (MPS)
In base all’art. 181-to, introduced by “corrective” of April 2008, secondary raw materials (and substances and by-products) will be defined and identified with a specific ministerial decree in compliance with the following criteria, requirements and conditions:

a) are produced by a reuse operation, recycling or waste recovery;
b) the origin is identified, the type and characteristics of the waste from which it can be produced;
c) reuse operations are identified, recycling or recovery that produce them, with particular reference to the methods and conditions of their exercise;
d) environmental quality criteria, product requirements and other conditions necessary for placing on the market are specified, which rules and technical standards required for use, taking into account the possible risk of damage to the environment and health resulting from the use or transport of the material, of the substance or by-product;
e) have an effective economic exchange value on the market. (art. 181-to, comma 1)

At the moment, temporarily and pending the issuance of the aforementioned ministerial decree, for the purposes of secondary raw materials they continue to apply:
• the provisions referred to in the ministerial decrees 5 February 1998, 12 June 2002, n. 161, e 17 November 2005, n. 269, which identify the products recovered respectively from non-hazardous waste, hazardous waste in general and hazardous waste generated by ships (art. 181-to, comma 3)
• the circular from the Ministry of the Environment 28 June 1999, prot. n. 3402/V / MIN, in particular in the part in which it specifies that they are secondary raw materials or in any case do not waste all materials, substances and objects…provided they have the characteristics of the secondary raw materials indicated in the Ministerial Decree. 5 February 1998 and are directly intended for use in an objective and effective way. (art. 181-to, comma 4)
Basically, without prejudice to what will be established by a future ministerial decree, not all substances and materials that have the characteristics of recovered products identified by the current technical standards on recovery under a simplified regime are waste (D.M. 5 February 1998, 12 June 2002, n. 161 e 17 November 2005, n. 269), not only when they derive from waste recovery operations, but also in any other case in which they still possess these characteristics.

Recovery Products
The Legislative Decree. n. 152/2006 specifies that I am “products” and they are no longer waste “ex-waste” to whom:

• the recovery operations have been completed (art. 181, comma3),
it being understood that:
• the waste recovery methods used to obtain materials, substances and secondary products must ensure the obtainment of materials with characteristics (that will come) established with the Decree of the Ministry of the Environment and Land and Sea Protection…in consultation with the Minister of Health and the Minister of Economic Development (art. 181-to, comma 2) is that,
• until the issue of this decree, the provisions of the ministerial decrees continue to apply 5 February 1998, 12 June 2002, n. 161 e 17 November 2005, n. 269 (art. 181-to, comma 3) as well as the circular of the Ministry of the Environment 28 June 1999, prot. n. 3402/V / MIN (art. 181-to, comma 4)
The latter provision specifies that, pending the envisaged ministerial decree, they are nonetheless non-waste, but recovery products are all those identified as such by the current technical standards for the recovery of non-hazardous waste under a simplified regime (D.M. 5 February 1998), of hazardous waste (D.M. n. 16/2002) and ship-generated waste (D.M. n. 269/2005). These technical standards, indeed, identify for each type of waste recoverable under the simplified scheme:
• the origin;
• features;
• the recovery process;
• the outcome of the recovery, i.e. the characteristics of the raw materials and / or products obtained.

By-products
Art. 183, comma 1, became. p) defines by-products:
substances and materials that the manufacturer does not intend to discard pursuant to the article 183, comma 1, letter to), that meet all of the following criteria, requirements and conditions:
1) they originate from a process not directly intended for their production;
2) their use is certain, right from the production stage, integral and takes place directly during the production or use process previously identified and defined;
3) meet product and environmental quality requirements suitable to ensure that their use does not give rise to emissions and environmental impacts that are qualitatively and quantitatively different from those authorized for the plant where they are intended to be used;
4) must not be subjected to preventive treatments or preliminary transformations to meet the product and environmental quality requirements referred to in point 3), but have these requisites right from the production stage;
5) have an economic market value.
The new definition of by-product, introduced with the “corrective”, unlike the original one, it does not foresee among the prerequisites that these are materials that arise continuously from the industrial process (the by-product can therefore also be obtained discontinuously), nor the condition that the use is certified “via a declaration from the manufacturer or holder, countersigned by the owner of the plant where the actual use takes place”.
In support of the aforementioned definition of by-product, it is useful to underline that the Court of Justice of the European Union has repeatedly stated that “in certain situations, good, a material or raw material resulting from an extraction or manufacturing process that is not primarily intended to produce it may not so much constitute a residue, as a by-product, of which the company does not seek to “discard”, but which it intends to exploit or commercialize on conditions favorable to it, in a later process, without making preliminary transformations. There is not, then, no justification for making it subject to the provisions of that directive – which are intended to provide for the disposal or recovery of waste – me, materials or raw materials that, from an economic point of view, they have value of products, regardless of any transformation” (judgment 8 September 2005 C-121/03)

Excavation lands and rocks
The discipline of excavated earth and rocks, introduced by law 21 December 2001, n. 443, and then extensively revised with the Legislative Decree. n. 152/2006, was further (it's completely) reformulated in “corrective”, following which art. 186 now disposes:

• on the one hand that excavated earth and rocks, also of galleries (they are no longer considered “residues from stone processing” as they appeared in the original text of Legislative Decree. 152/2006), obtained as by-products, they can be used for backfilling, fills , remodeling and embankments, provided that certain conditions punctually listed in the paragraph exist 1 of the same art. 186;
• on the other (last sentence of the paragraph 1) that the use of excavated earth in industrial processes as by-products, to replace quarry materials, is permitted in compliance with the conditions set out in art. 183, comma 1, became. p), letter which for the note, sets the conditions under which a material is defined as a by-product.
Given that it is totally excluded from the scope of Part Four of Legislative Decree. 152/2006 (however, it is not a refusal), uncontaminated soil and other natural material excavated during the construction activity, where it is certain that the material will be used for construction purposes in its natural state on the same site where it was excavated (item added to the list of exclusions by law no. 2/2009), for the destination of earth and rocks of excavation for backfilling, fills, detected, first condition, necessary, but not enough is that
• it is ascertained that they do not come from contaminated sites or subjected to reclamation interventions (art. 186, comma1, lett.e))
A tal fine:
• the verification that the excavated earth and rocks do not come from such sites is carried out at the expense of the producer (art. 186, comma 6).
The existence of the required requirements, including the certainty of use, and the timing of any temporary storage must be indicated:
• in the project submitted to EIA, if the work for which the excavation is carried out is subject to EIA;
• in the request for building permit or in the Declaration of Commencement of Activities (DAY), if the work is not subject to EIA.
Only for public works it is considered the case that the work is not subjected to EIA, nor to leave , nor the DIA.
Compared to what was originally provided for by Legislative Decree. n. 152/2006, Now, following the “corrective”:
• the destination of the excavated earth must always be fully defined before carrying out the excavation and the only competent authority to receive the related documentation is the one responsible for evaluating and approving the work for whose execution the earth and rocks are excavated;
• the opinion of the ARPA is no longer required, at least it is no longer expected that the interested party must obtain an opinion from the ARPA;
and also:
• nothing is said for lands deriving from works not subject to any authorization, except for public works;
• the forecast of a (future) simplification ministerial decree for small construction sites (6.000 mc), no changes to art. 266, comma 7.

Exclusions

In base all’art. 185, comma 1, of Legislative Decree. 152/2006, amended by Legislative Decree. 4/2008, do not fall within the scope of Part Four of Legislative Decree. and are therefore expressly excluded from the general regulations on waste management:

a) emissions into the atmosphere, ie the gaseous effluents (which are regulated in Part Five of the same Legislative Decree. 152/2006 “Rules on air protection and reduction of atmospheric emissions”);
b) waste water (the discipline of which is contained in Part Three, Second Section, always of the Legislative Decree. 152/2006 “Protection of water from pollution”), except liquid waste, that, as such they remain subject to the waste regulations;in summary, the distinction between water discharge and liquid waste is essentially given by the stability or otherwise of the “pipeline that links the origin of the wastewater with its destination: it is a liquid discharge (therefore regulated by the Third Part, Second Section of Legislative Decree. 152/2006) the water used conveyed to its final destiny (river channel, lago, big, sewer) through a fixed work; instead, the water used is liquid waste if transferred to the treatment plant by tanker.
c) radioactive waste;
d) disused explosives;
e) the waste resulting from the prospection, from extraction, from the treatment, from the storage of mineral resources or from the exploitation of quarries;
f) the carogne, fecal materials and other natural and non-hazardous substances used in agricultural activity;
g) plant materials, uncontaminated lands and stones coming from the maintenance of drainage and irrigation channels;
h) uncontaminated soil and other material in the natural state excavated during the construction activity in the natural state in the same in which it was excavated (as specified by law 28 January 2009, n.2, of conversion of the decree-law 29 November 2008, n. 185)
They are also excluded on the basis of paragraph 2 of the same art. 185, but only if they can be qualified and used as by-products pursuant to art. 183, comma1, became. p):
– fecal and vegetable materials from agricultural activities used in agricultural activities or in company or inter-company plants to produce energy, heat or biogas;
– lithoid materials or arable land, also in the form of sludge, from the cleaning or washing of agricultural products and reused in normal agricultural practices and management of the funds;
– the surpluses deriving from the preparation of solid foods, cooked or raw, for, with specific agreements, to the facilities for the shelter of pets referred to in the law 14 August 1991, n. 281.
Some of “waste” excluded from the field of application of Part Four of Legislative Decree. 152/2006 remain exempt from any other form of discipline; this is the case of waste reused in normal agricultural practices, or rather lithoid materials. Others, instead, are subject to other regulations governing their elimination in a specific and in some cases much more rigorous way (emissions in the atmosphere, water discharges, radioactive waste and explosives).

Other Definitions

In addition to the definition of waste, secondary raw material, by-product, art. 183 contains numerous other definitions such as:

• “Producer”: person (physical or legal) whose activity has produced waste, so-called < >, as well as the person (physical or legal) who has carried out pretreatment operations, mixing or other operations that have changed the nature or composition of the waste (art. 183, became. b));
• “Holder”: the producer of waste or the natural or legal person who holds it (art. 183, became. c));
• “Management”: collection, transport, waste recovery and disposal, including the control of these operations, as well as the control of landfills after closure (art. 183, became. d));
• “Disposal”: the operations envisaged in’ Annex B to Part Four of Legislative Decree. 152/2006 (art. 183, became. g));
• “Recovery”: the operations provided for in Annex C to Part Four of Legislative Decree. 152/2006 (art. 183, became. h));
• “Place of waste production”: one or more buildings or factories or infrastructural sites connected to each other within a delimited area where the production activities from which the waste originate take place (art. 183, became. i));
• “Temporary storage”: the waste grouping carried out, before harvesting, in the place where they are produced (art. 183, became. m)) and in compliance with specific and detailed conditions (defined in the same letter. m) and in particular to points 1 e 2).

Waste classification and correct attribution of the Identification Code

The waste is classified (art. 184, comma 1, of Legislative Decree. n. 152/2006):

• according to the origin in:
– municipal waste
– special waste
• according to the hazard characteristics in:
– non-hazardous waste
– Hazardous waste
The distinction between municipal waste and special waste has effects:
• on authorization and authorization schemes in general;
• on the obligations of registration and annual communication;
• on the identification of the person who has the task of providing for their disposal.
The distinction between hazardous and non-hazardous waste has effects:
• on authorization and authorization schemes in general;
• on the obligations of registration and annual communication;
• on the prohibition of mixing;
• on the penalty system.
The various types of waste are then coded according to the European list of waste – so-called CER – referred to in Decision 2000/532 / EC and subsequent amendments and additions reproduced in Annex D to Part Four of Legislative Decree. n. 152/2006.

Urban waste
They are municipal waste (art. 184, comma 2 of Legislative Decree. 152/2006):

a) household waste, even bulky, coming from premises and places used for residential purposes;
b) non-hazardous waste from premises and places used for uses other than those referred to in letter a), similar to urban waste in quantity and quality; assimilation is arranged by the Municipality on the basis of criteria set by the state;
c) waste from street sweeping;
d) waste of any nature or origin, lying on roads and public areas or on roads and private areas in any case subject to public use or on sea and lake beaches and on the banks of waterways;
e) vegetable waste from green areas, which gardens, parks and cemetery areas;
f) waste from exhumations and exhumations, as well as other waste from cemetery activities other than those of the letters b), c) and it's).

Special waste
They are special waste (art. 184, comma 3 of Legislative Decree. 152/2006):

a) waste from agricultural and agro-industrial activities;
b) waste deriving from demolition activities, construction, as well as hazardous waste deriving from excavation activities, it being understood that excavated earth and rocks are not waste where certain conditions are met (established in detail by art. 186);
c) waste from industrial processing;
d) waste from artisanal processing;
e) waste from commercial activities;
f) waste from service activities;
g) waste deriving from waste recovery and disposal activities, from potabilization and other water treatments, from the purification of waste water and emissions into the atmosphere;
h) waste deriving from healthcare activities;
i) deteriorated and obsolete machinery and equipment;
l) motor vehicles, end-of-life trailers and the like and their parts;
m) fuel derived from waste (CDR).

Urban waste for assimilation
As seen, “urban” they are primarily household waste, namely waste < >, while those coming from economic activities are particularly special (agricultural waste, industrial, handcrafted, from trade and services).
They are also municipal waste <> (art. 184, comma 2, became. b) of Legislative Decree. n. 152/2006).
Based on the aforementioned art. 198, comma 2, became. g):

• the municipalities concur to regulate the management of urban waste with specific regulations that establish in particular the assimilation, for quality and quantity, from special non-hazardous waste to urban waste, according to the criteria set out in art. 195, comma 2, became. e); the latter as amended by the corrective in turn provides that
• the determination of qualitative and qualitative-quantitative criteria for assimilation is also the responsibility of the State, for collection and disposal purposes, of special waste and urban waste, with the clarification that however:
– waste that forms in production areas is not comparable to urban waste, including warehouses for raw materials and finished products, except for waste produced in the offices, in the canteens, in the shops, in bars and premises serving workers or in any case open to the public
– likewise, they are not comparable to municipal waste that is formed in sales structures with a surface area twice higher than the limits set out in art. 4, comma 1, letter d) of legislative decree n. 114 of the 1998, ie with surface greater than 450 m2 in municipalities with less than 10.000 inhabitants and a 750 m2 in the other municipalities.

The envisaged state assimilation criteria must be established with a specific ministerial decree, pending the issue of which the provisions of the articles continue to apply 18, comma 2 letter d) e 57, comma 1 of the legislative decree 5 February 1997, n. 22, which in turn provided for the issue of a specific Ministerial Decree. (however, never issued) and in blackberries, the application of the previous provisions on the subject (art. 57).
Nowadays, therefore, are still those referred to in the D.P.R. n. 915 of the 1982 and related implementing rules, the assimilation criteria on the basis of which the municipalities can establish that , for collection and disposal purposes (therefore the obligation to transfer to the public service and subject to the rate for the management of urban waste pursuant to art. 238 of Legislative Decree. 152/2006), certain non-domestic waste of agricultural origin, industrial, artisanal, commercial and services are assimilated to urban waste becoming urban waste for all purposes.

Special waste similar to urban waste
The category of waste similar to urban waste, or of urban people by assimilation, it should not be confused with that of special waste which, while remaining such, can, by free choice of those who produced them or in any case holds them, be conferred, on the basis of a specific agreement-contract, to the manager of the public service where the same offers this service.
In fact it is expressly foreseen among the options given to the producer of special waste, to fulfill their obligations, that of the delivery of waste to entities that manage the urban waste collection service, with which a specific agreement has been stipulated (art. 188, comma 2, became. c)), alternatively with self-recovery or self-disposal, conferment to specialized and authorized companies and export (as a last resort).
Therefore i should not be confused “urban waste by assimilation” and special waste that, remaining such, the public service manager has the right to collect (and the producer to give it), clearly on the assumption that they are compatible and similar to municipal waste. For such refusals the payment of the “rate” with the payment established in the agreement to be stipulated between the service manager and the user.

Hazardous waste

Non-domestic waste is normally hazardous which in the list of waste referred to in Annex D to Part Four of Legislative Decree. 152/2006, that is in the commonly called CER, are marked with an asterisk (art. 184, comma 5 of Legislative Decree. 152/2006).
However, if in this Annex the waste is identified as dangerous by specific or generic reference to dangerous substances and as not dangerous as it is different from the dangerous one (“mirror entry”), it is classified as dangerous only if these substances reach certain concentrations.
In fact, in the introduction to the waste list it is specified that:

• waste marked with an asterisk in the list “*” they are hazardous waste within the meaning of Directive 91/689 / EEC relating to hazardous waste and the provisions of the same directive apply to them (then those on hazardous waste contained in Part Four of Legislative Decree. 152/2006), provided that the article does not apply 1, paragraph 5 (that is, provided they are not household waste), ma
• if a waste is identified as dangerous by specific or generic reference to dangerous substances and as not dangerous as it is different from the dangerous one, it is classified as dangerous only if the substances reach certain concentrations, for this purpose it was specified that the characteristics from H3 to H8, H10 and H11 the limit values ​​referred to in point apply 4, while the features H1, H2, H9, H13 and H14 do not need to be taken into account , as the reference criteria are lacking both at EU and national level.
Values ​​Threshold for the classification of waste identified as hazardous by specific or generic reference to hazardous substances
– flash point ≤ 55 °C
– one or more substances classified as very toxic in total concentration ≥ 0,1 %
– one or more substances classified as toxic in total concentration ≥ 3 %
– one or more substances classified as harmful in total concentration ≥ 25 %
– one or more corrosive substances classified as R35 in total concentration ≥ 1 %
– one or more corrosive substances classified as R34 in total concentration ≥ 5 %
– one or more irritants classified as R41 in total concentration ≥ 10 %
– one or more irritants classified as R36, R37, R38 in total concentration ≥ 20 %
– a substance recognized as a carcinogen (categories 1 The 2) in concentration ≥ 0,1 %
– a substance recognized as a carcinogen (category 3) in concentration ≥ 1 %
– a substance recognized as toxic for the production cycle (categories 1 The 2) classified as R60 or R61 in concentration ≥ 0,5 %
– a substance recognized as toxic for the production cycle (categories 3) classified as R62 or R63 in concentration ≥ 5 %
– a mutagen of the category 1 The 2 classified as R46 in concentration ≥ 0,1 %
– a mutagen of the category 3 classified as R40 in concentration ≥ 1%

Attribution of the Identification Code

All waste must be coded according to the current European Waste List (CER) also reproduced in Annex D to Part Four of Legislative Decree. 152/2006.
Given that the classification of waste as hazardous or not depends primarily on how it is covered in the list in Annex D, the attribution of the code is a prerequisite and condition for classification. Therefore summing up:

• waste identified with codes without an asterisk can never be classified as hazardous;
• if the refusal (not domestic) in the CER it is marked with an asterisk and is described with reference to hazardous substances, this waste is dangerous only if the dangerous substance (s) are present in concentrations that exceed the established thresholds; otherwise it is not dangerous and another code not marked with an asterisk must be assigned;
• if the refusal is marked with an asterisk, but it is not described with reference to dangerous substances, such refusal is always dangerous.

European List of Waste

The European waste list or catalog is divided into twenty chapters, each of which is in turn divided into a variable number of sub-chapters, within which the individual types of waste are identified and listed. See the complete list of CER Codes.

Criteria for assigning the code

For the purposes of the correct attribution of the code (six-digit code of which the first two identify the “chapter”, the second two the “sub-chapter” and the last two the specific waste falling within a given “sub-chapter”of a given “chapter”), the point 3 of the introduction to the current list, or Annex D to Part Four of Legislative Decree. 152/2006, set the following criteria:

1) identify the source that generates the rejection by consulting the titles of the chapters from 01 a 12 and yes 17 a 20 to trace the six-digit code referring to the refusal in question, with the exception of the codes of the aforementioned chapters which end with numbers 99;
2) if none of the chapter codes from 01 a 12 Oh yes 17 a 20 it is suitable for the classification of a specific waste, the chapters need to be examined 13, 14 e 15 to identify the correct code;
3) if none of these codes are adequate, the refusal must be defined using the codes referred to in the chapter 16;
4) if a particular waste is not classifiable even by means of the chapter codes 16, you must use the code 99 (wastes not otherwise specified) preceded by the figures of the chapter that corresponds to the activity identified in the previous point 1.
However, the above criteria are not always perfectly suitable and sufficient to guide a correct search of the code. In fact, it should be noted that the twenty chapters into which the list is divided have a somewhat heterogeneous content. If it is true that in principle the chapters from 01 a 12 and yes 17 a 20, on which research must first and foremost be directed, are identification of “sources” waste generators, for sure the chapters 13, 14 e 15, on which, according to the instructions given, only secondarily should you search for the code, instead they identify specific families of waste: oils, solvents, packaging. So you don't see why, if the waste to be coded is unequivocally a used mineral or synthetic oil, or a solvent or packaging, you should however first explore the content of the chapters from 01 a 12 and yes 17 a 20 (with the risk of attributing an incorrect code) instead of directly considering the specific chapter.