New European Regulations

New European Regulations that change the way in which waste is classified and assessed come into force across the UK on 1 June. These changes affect anyone who produces waste, particularly if their waste is likely to be hazardous. The changes include many small changes to the list of waste (also known as the EWC), major changes to the assessment of hazardous properties used by the list to classify wastes like soil and the addition of a new criteria for persistent organic pollutant. These changes affect the way that assessment and classification must be carried out for 70% of waste codes. It may also result in a change to the current classification for some wastes: a few wastes may change from hazardous to non-hazardous, and vice versa.