Shredder residues “non hazardous” despite lack of oil test

In new guidance on shredder residues to be issued this week, the Environment Agency said it would allow residues from ELVs to be sent to non-hazardous landfill sites as long as the vehicles had been de-polluted according to the ELV Regulation 2003 standards.

”There is currently no practical analytical methodology that can accurately distinguish between materials in mixed plastic and oil residues from vehicle shredding.“
– Environment Agency
This means that once hazardous items like oils, fuels and mercury-containing components are removed, vehicles can be shredded and residues left over from recycling sent to non-hazardous landfill sites for disposal.

Vehicle recyclers are to demonstrate that processed vehicles have been de-polluted by providing relevant waste transfer notes to landfill operators, the Agency said.

Tests have shown that the metal content of shredder residues is below levels considered hazardous. But, the Agency was forced to concede that “no conclusive method for the determination of oil content was identified” in work carried out last year.

In a statement, the Agency said: “It appears that there is currently no practical or accredited analytical methodology that can accurately distinguish between materials in mixed plastic and rubber residues and oil residues from vehicle shredding.”

Theory
The Agency added that it was “unlikely” that further work would establish practical testing procedures “in the short term”. Nevertheless, it has insisted that “theoretically”, the shredding of fully de-polluted ELVs should give rise to levels of oil “below the hazardous waste threshold level”.

The issue of ELV shredder residue arose in July 2004 as it appeared that European legislation in the ELV Directive and Landfill Directive each treated the residues differently with regard to its hazardous nature.

While the UK regulations stemming from the ELV Directive stated that an ELV is no longer hazardous once it had been de-polluted, landfill operators were concerned that oil and other hazardous traces in the shredder residues might mean that under the Landfill Directive, it would have to be sent to a designated hazardous waste facility for disposal.

This week's new guidance follows the end of a seven-month interim period following July's ban on co-disposal, in which shredder residues were considered non-hazardous provided a minimum level of de-pollution was carried out on vehicles (see letsrecycle.com story).

The interim period, which was extended after being originally set to run until November 2004, was given to provide time for the development of new testing procedures, particularly on mineral oil content.

The Environment Agency's new guidance on ELV shredder residues will be available in the next 24 hours on the hazardous waste guidance page of its website.