Construction operations can produce significant volumes of soil arisings and wastes that, on occasion, cannot be included in the site development and can, as a result, incur large disposal costs. Under waste legislation, waste producers have a duty of care to ensure that waste is properly classified and disposed of. Waste advice is one of the services that Crossfield Consulting offers to its Clients and we have a track record of advising our Clients to ensure that they comply with the relevant legislation and aiding waste minimisation.

In June of this year, waste management guidance was updated and WM3 Waste Classification & Assessment was published. The classification of waste must be based on the EU chemical classification legislation, which references the European Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation (CLP). The chemical constituents of wastes must be classified in accordance with the guidelines of WM3, which has now introduced hazard statements to assess chemicals and replaces the risk phrases that were previously used. With respect to disposal of soils, which may be generated from earthworks imbalances or foundation and services excavations, the chemical components of the soils need to be assessed to determine the waste classification of the soil material.  As a result of the legislation and guidance changes, our Clients may find that more wastes that were previously not hazardous are being classified as “hazardous” waste.

At Crossfield Consulting, we have adopted industry-recognised assessment tools to assess more-efficiently the chemical constituents of soils with respect to the new waste guidance. With the ever-increasing drive to develop “brownfield” sites (which may have industrial pasts and, therefore, soils with complex chemical contents), and as the new waste guidance becomes implemented, it will become more important for our Clients to have confidence that the wastes they produce during construction are correctly characterised and classified.

Whilst there may be potential for wastes to be classified as “hazardous”, our Clients can have confidence that, at Crossfield Consulting, we will be using desk study and chemical testing information to ensure that our waste advice is based on realistic chemicals that could be present on a particular site. That has always been the ethos at Crossfield Consulting and we will continue to offer realistic assessments and not just default to worst-case scenarios.