Exemptions

 
Certain types of waste classified as hazardous also include non-hazardous waste that does not have any hazard-relevant properties. In order to take this into account and to help production processes move further in the direction of “cleaner production”, it is possible to furnish proof that such waste has no hazard-relevant properties (exemption) in individual cases.

For hazardous waste, exemption is permissible at any stage of the waste disposal chain (see the section “Classification policy measures - Hazardous waste”). The exemption must be reported to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management. Exemption may be performed for a single batch or for a specific process with consistent quality by the relevant waste holder (“normal” exemption) or by the landfill owner for the purposes of depositing the waste in his landfill.

Analysing the consignment notes shows that exemptions by waste producers have the following effect: a given type of waste (either an individual batch or waste from a specific process of consistent quality) before initial transfer from the waste producer to a processor does not fall within the scope of the hazardous waste control system and therefore is never reported to the Waste Data Network.

As compared to the Federal Waste Management Plan 2001, which is based on the data of 1999, the quantities of exempted waste increased about seven-fold up to the year 2004. In 2004, some 2.39 million tonnes of hazardous waste was exempted, which amounts to594 cases of exemption. The following table gives an overview of all the exempted waste types in 2004 in decreasing order of waste quantities. Of particular significance here are “other (or oil- and crude-oil-)contaminated soils” followed by “slag and ash (or flue ash and dust) from waste incineration plants”. This is largely due to §4.4 line 1 of the List of Wastes Ordinance, according to which excavated material is considered to be hazardous if it comes from sites handling substances harmful to the soil or water and therefore giving good reason to suspect that the waste is “hazard-relevant” as defined by Annex 3 (e.g., in the case of metal or mineral oil processing operations, filling stations, drycleaners, operations of the chemical industry, gasworks or contaminated sites).
 
Table: Exempted amounts in 2004 – tonnes of hazardous waste types prior to exemption

Code  numbers	Disclosed waste types prior to exemption	Number of  exemption	Total  exempted  amount
31424	Other contaminated soils; hazardous	124	931.000
31308	Slag and ash from waste incineration plants; hazardous	39	380.000
31309	Flue ash and dust from waste incineration plants; hazardous	15	310.000
31423	Oil-contaminated soils; hazardous	223	155.000
54504	Crude-oil-contaminated earth, excavated materials and  demolition materials; hazardous	33	152.000
31223	Dust, ash and dross from other smelting processes; hazardous	8	142.000
31441	Construction waste and/or debris with harmful contamination;  hazardous	9	98.000
31301	Flue ash and dust from furnaces	3	83.000
51310	Other metal hydroxides; hazardous	14	55.000
	Other 32 hazardous waste types	126	84.000
	Total in tonnes (rounded)	594	2,39 million

The following table shows the exempted quantities of waste by type (and purpose) of exemption:

Type of exemption	Purpose of exemption	Exempted waste quantities in 2004 (t)
Process exemption	“normal” exemption	1.265.000
Single-batch exemption	exemption for landfilling	439.000
Single-batch exemption	“normal” exemption	362.000
Prozessausstufung	exemption for landfilling	325.000

The above tables are based on the data status of 16 June 2005. The analysis for the above tables was based on the foreseeable quantities of accumulated waste per year according to exemption reports (in the case of exemptions that began or ended in 2004, the foreseeable quantities of waste were calculated pro rata).

These exempted waste types were classified into 44 different waste types based on the exemption research. The following table shows the main exemptions as non-hazardous waste by weight.
 
Table: Amounts of exempted waste in 2004 – by type of waste in tonnes

Code  numbers	Waste types  after exemption	Specification	Exempted  amount
31424 37	Other contaminated soils	Excavated soil material and excavated fill, other contaminated, non-hazardous	482.000
31308 88	Slag and ash from waste incineration plants	Exempted	380.000
31411 29	Excavated soil	Excavated soil material with background contamination	319.000
31309 88	Flue ash and dust from waste incineration plants	De-classified	310.000
31423 36	Oil-contaminated soils	Excavated soil material, as well as excavated fill, hydrocarbon-contaminated, non-hazardous	183.000
54504 88	Crude-oil-contaminated earth, excavated earth, and demolition material	De-classified	152.000
31223 88	Dust, ash and dross from other smelting processes	De-classified	122.000
31409	Construction waste (excl. construction site waste)		98.000
31301	Flue ash and dust from other furnaces		83.000
51310 88	Other metal hydroxides	De-classified	55.000
31219	Blas furnace slag		50.000
31411 33	Excavated soil	Demolition and construction waste quality	37.000
31221 88	Other slag from steel production	Exempted	26.000
31223 91	Dust, ash and dross from other smelting processes	Consolidated	20.000
31467	Track ballast		15.000
31203 88	Slag from non-ferrous metal smelting	Exempted	10.700
31307	Boiler slag		10.000
	Other 27 exempted waste types		37.000
	Total (rounded)		2,39 million

18.10.2006, Lebensministerium VI/3