UK waste classification technical guidance

Country / jurisdiction: United Kingdom · Year: 2014 · Status: In force · Level: National · Type: Voluntary

The United Kingdom (UK) government, through the Environment Agency, maintains technical guidance (WM3) that outlines robust procedures for waste classification and assessment, particularly focusing on hazardous properties and chemical composition of materials. This aligns with established European standards and demonstrates the UK's commitment to maintaining high environmental standards and facilitating compliant international trade in recyclable materials.

This guidance document serves as a detailed reference manual for waste producers, managers and regulators, incorporating the List of Waste (LoW) codes that align with international standards. The guidelines establish clear protocols for sampling, testing, and classification of waste materials - including recyclable minerals - ensuring compliance with both domestic and international requirements for cross-border movement of such materials.

Within this framework, the guidance provides specific classifications for batteries and metallic wastes through the List of Waste (LoW) codes. Batteries are categorised under multiple codes, with hazardous classifications for lead batteries (16 06 01*), Ni-Cd batteries (16 06 02*), and mercury-containing batteries (16 06 03*), while other batteries, including lithium-ion, would typically fall under 'other batteries and accumulators' (16 06 05). Scrap metals are similarly well-defined, with specific codes for various pure metals (17 04 01-07) including copper, aluminium, lead, zinc, iron and steel, alongside separate classifications for contaminated metal waste (17 04 09*), demonstrating the UK's approach to managing and trading these secondary raw materials.

Official source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/waste-classification-technical-guidance