Characterization of waste prior to valorization: inventory of regulations, standards and guidelines applicable in France

Summary

With the aim of improving the recovery of waste, the need for characterisation is growing and access to information about this characterisation is becoming increasingly complex. Against this backdrop, this study has endeavoured to draw up a national inventory of the main documents relating to waste characterisation with a view to its future recovery: - all the regulatory texts dealing with characterisation; - standards relating to sampling and characterisation; - the main guides recommending characterisation procedures or describing the types of waste that are acceptable in each sector. The information gathered includes the parameters to be characterised at the end of the process, any threshold values and existing sampling and characterisation procedures. All the results obtained are presented in the form of an Excel database, allowing texts to be selected by type of waste, by treatment process or by type of characterisation. The associated report serves as a support for the database: it presents the general regulatory framework, the methodology and its limitations, as well as a grid for reading the results. This inventory, drawn up in January 2013, will have to evolve with the regulations and the introduction of new characterisation methodologies, through regular updates. This work is part of RECORD's project to produce a reference work on waste characterisation.