Hazardous Waste — Core Obligations
The management of hazardous waste is the most strictly regulated area of the Waste Management Code, because here the risk concerns both the environment and human health. Under the Code, the generation, collection and transportation of hazardous waste, as well as its processing and storage, must be carried out in such a way as to ensure the protection of the environment and human health. This general requirement is the yardstick of every subsequent rule: each operation with hazardous waste — from generation to storage — is measured against this standard.
If your enterprise generates hazardous waste, or if you are engaged in its collection, transportation or processing, this page describes the obligations and prohibitions that the Code places directly before you.
Prohibitions — What May Not Be Done with Hazardous Waste
The Code establishes categorical prohibitions. It is prohibited: to litter the environment with hazardous waste outside a waste collection container; to discharge hazardous waste into the sewage system or into underground or surface waters, including the sea; to burn hazardous waste outside an incinerator holding an environmental decision; and to process hazardous waste outside a waste processing facility holding an environmental decision.
These four prohibitions are simple and precise: hazardous waste cannot be dumped outside containers, cannot be poured into sewage or water, cannot be burned without special authorization, and cannot be processed at an unpermitted facility. There is also a rule for the population: municipal hazardous waste must be placed in special containers allocated by the municipality for this purpose, where such containers exist. For a company, the operational consequence is that every route hazardous waste takes must end at an authorized container, facility or incinerator.
Special Obligations of the Waste Generator
A waste generator that generates more than 2 tonnes of hazardous waste per year is obliged by the Code to: create and introduce a system for the separation and collection of hazardous waste; designate an environmental manager responsible for taking appropriate measures for the safe management of hazardous waste; and ensure the informing of personnel working with hazardous waste and the conduct of appropriate training.
These obligations also apply to a generator of less than 2 tonnes of hazardous waste per year where it carries out an activity determined by an order of the Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture. A further important rule: until the exact composition of waste is established, that waste is considered hazardous — waste of doubtful nature must always be managed under the stricter regime until its character is determined. This presumption protects health and the environment, and it means that classification is not a formality but the first compliance decision of the whole chain.