The legal regime of hazardous waste and its fines
The management of hazardous waste in Georgia is regulated by the Waste Management Code, which establishes in this sphere both the core duties and the special requirements, together with the sanctions for their breach. Violation of the rules connected with hazardous waste is one of the most strictly punished spheres of the Code: for certain cases the fine for a legal entity reaches 10 000 GEL. Therefore, for any enterprise that generates or manages hazardous waste, knowing these norms exactly is not a formality but a matter of financial risk management.
The prohibitions on discharge, littering, burning and processing
Article 36 of the Code governs the basic prohibitions connected with hazardous waste. The discharge or dumping of hazardous waste into the sewerage system or into underground or surface waters entails a fine of 5 000 GEL for a natural person and 10 000 GEL for a legal entity. The same measure punishes the littering of the environment with hazardous waste or dumping outside the waste collection container, as well as placing hazardous waste generated by entrepreneurial activity into a container not designated for it — including a municipal non-hazardous waste container. Burning hazardous waste outside an incinerator holding an environmental decision, and processing it outside a processing facility holding such a decision, entail a fine of 500 GEL for a natural person and 1500 GEL for a legal entity.
In applying this article the expert examination rule also matters: where an examination appointed for the purposes of the article recognized the waste as hazardous, the cost of conducting the examination is reimbursed by the person against whom the administrative offence report was drawn up. This means that for disputed waste the classification ultimately places both the fine and the cost of the examination on the subject of the report.
The mixing rule and registration requirements
Article 39 of the Code governs mixing: the mixing by an operator of less than 20 kg of hazardous waste with other waste, substances or materials without prior written consent entails a fine of 500 GEL for a natural person and 1 000 GEL for a legal entity. Article 40 concerns the need for registration: the collection or transport of waste without registration entails a fine of 1 000 GEL; the recovery or placement of up to 10 tons per year of non-hazardous waste without registration — 1 500 GEL; the establishment and operation of a pre-processing facility, a transfer station or a temporary storage facility for more than 50 tons of non-hazardous waste without registration — 2 000 GEL; non-compliance with registration conditions — 1 000 GEL. Carrying out without registration an activity provided for by Annex II of the Environmental Assessment Code that was not subjected to assessment by a screening decision entails a fine of 5 000 GEL.
Special requirements for collection and processing
Article 40¹ of the Code establishes special requirements. Breach of the packaging and labelling rules for collected and temporarily stored hazardous waste is punished with 1 000 GEL. The consignor's failure to complete and submit the transport form in the electronic system before the start of transportation, and likewise the failure of the carrier and the recipient to meet the same requirement, each entail a fine of 1 000 GEL. Breach of the special requirements for waste oil management entails 1 500 GEL; establishing and operating a temporary storage facility for no less than 2 tons and no more than 10 tons of hazardous waste without registration — 2 000 GEL; and breach of the special requirements for temporary storage and operation at such a facility, as well as of the special requirements for managing asbestos waste and persistent organic pollutant waste — 3 000 GEL.
How an enterprise avoids the risk
Practice shows that most fines arise precisely from skipped documentation and formal steps, so the hazardous waste management system is built in three blocks. The first block is classification: the assessment of each waste stream, the determination of hazardous status and its recording under the appropriate classification code. The second block is registration: the list of activities that require registration under the Code and the timely completion of the corresponding forms. The third block is operational discipline: the packaging and labelling rules, the cycle of electronic transport forms and the regime of the temporary storage facility. Bringing all three blocks into order reduces the risk of fines simultaneously within the framework of several articles.
The mixing rule deserves separate mention: an operator may mix less than 20 kg of hazardous waste with other waste only with prior written consent. This requirement often becomes the subject of practical dispute, since determining small quantities requires exact accounting. If your enterprise generates small quantities of hazardous waste, the accounting system should be tailored precisely to this threshold.
Frequently Asked Questions
What fine threatens the discharge of hazardous waste into waters?
Discharge into the sewage system, underground or surface waters fines a natural person 5 000 GEL and a legal person 10 000 GEL.
May hazardous waste be burned outside an incinerator?
No. Burning outside an incinerator holding an environmental decision triggers a fine of 500 GEL for a natural person and 1 500 GEL for a legal person.
What applies to packaging and labelling?
Violation of the packaging and labelling rules for collected and temporarily stored hazardous waste triggers a 1 000 GEL fine.
How is violation of the asbestos waste rules punished?
Violation of the special requirements for managing asbestos waste triggers a 3 000 GEL fine.
How We Help on Legal.ge
Our team assists in assessing the classification of your waste, in determining the need for registration, in implementing the electronic transport form procedure, and in responding to administrative reports. Every case is assessed against the exact text of the above-mentioned articles of the Code, with the boundaries of the fines indicated.