Aspects to be considered for waste classification
The Stockholm Convention on POPs and the Protocol to the regional UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) are international instruments, whose POP substance lists are amended continuously. As soon as new substances/substance groups are classified in the Convention as POPs, they are subsequently included in the POP Regulation. Specific waste related provisions for POPs are established under the aforementioned POP Regulation. Following Article 7, wastes consisting of POPs, containing or contaminated with them above specific limit values (concentration limit referred to in Article 7(4)(a) — the so called ‘low POP-content limit value’), must be disposed of or recovered, without undue delay and in accordance with the provisions laid down in the POP Regulation in such a way as to ensure that the POP content is destroyed or irreversibly transformed so that the remaining waste and releases do not exhibit the characteristics of POPs. Disposal or recovery operations that may lead to recovery, recycling, reclamation or re-use of the POPs are prohibited. According to the LoW, the following applies in case of mirror entries: ‘Wastes containing polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDF), DDT (1,1,1-trichloro-2,2- bis (4-chlorophenyl)ethane), chlordane, hexachlorocyclohexanes (including lindane), dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexaclorobenzene, chlordecone, aldrine, pentachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene hexabromobiphenyl and/or PCB exceeding the concentration limits indicated in Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council should be classified as hazardous.’ Thus, waste containing the POPs mentioned in LoW (point 2, indent 3) in concentrations which exceed the limit values established in the POP Regulation (cf. Table 7) shall be classified as hazardous. For wastes containing other POPs, the hazardousness should be assessed applying the concentration limits included in Annex III to the WFD. Table 7 Limit values established in the POP Regulation for those POPs which are listed in the LoW Waste which falls under the obligations of Article 7 of the POP Regulation because it contains POPs in concentrations which exceed the low POP content limit value is not necessarily a hazardous waste. For example a waste containing pentaBDE (main historic use in flexible PUR foams for automotive and upholstery applications) in a concentration of 5 % should be treated according to Article 7 of the POP Regulation (concentration limit for the sum of POP-BDEs 0,1 %) but is not a hazardous waste (limit value for pentaBDE 10 %). Note that all obligations for producers or holders of waste stemming from POPs Regulation have to be fulfilled independently whether the classification of waste in line with the LoW leads to the waste to be considered as hazardous or not. Please note that for wastes which are only classified as hazardous due to their POP content it may be difficult to complete the consignment notes as usually the hazardous properties HP 1 to 15 have to be recorded and reported.
Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.