Speaking at the Resource Ireland show in Dublin earlier today, Inspector for the Environment Inspectorate of the Department of Environment & Local Government, Brendan O’Neill, described specific criteria as laid out in the EU Waste Framework Directive which must be fulfilled in order to meet legal recycling requirements.

“It’s about removing unnecessary waste controls on something, which is stripped for purpose and can be used without adverse affects on the environment and human health,” he told delegates.

The EU standard definition of end-of-waste states that waste ceases to be waste if it has undergone a recovery operation to turn it into safe and useful materials.

O’Neill laid out EU regulations that qualify iron, steel and aluminium as legally end of waste and said that the complexity in getting this recognition was “onerous”, but insisted that it was important businesses were fully aware of them.

He added that some of the regulations were yet to be implemented after failing to come into law through receiving a qualified majority vote in Europe, but added that many of them look likely to come into force over the next two years.

Some of the requirements include less than 2% steriles in recycled iron, aluminium and steel. Other materials must be free of visible oil and must not contain hazardous chemicals.

The full requirements for end of waste can be found here

Live from Resource Ireland in Dublin

Conor McGlone

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