Reflections on an End-of-Waste Status of Valuable Residues

Such valuable residues are normally classified as wastes according to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and according to Art. 6 (end-of-waste status) of the waste framework directive 2008/98/EC. Especially such valuable residues which are contaminated with hazardous substances could at the beginning of their further handling only reach the end-of-waste status in the following case: The valuable residue, its further handling aiming at achieving a certain benefit and the risks for man and environment related to the residue and its further handling are almost similar to a primary material (intentionally produced), its handling aiming at achieving the same benefit and the related risks. These prerequisites will almost never be met at the beginning of the handling of valuable residues. The primary production leading to the achievement of a certain benefit (e.g. production of usable precious metals by mining of rocks and extracting the metals out of the rocks) and its related risks are quite different from the further handling of valuable residues leading to the achievement of the same benefit. The following amendment of waste law (respectively of its application?) is suggested: Valuable residues should - without any condition - no longer be considered as waste in the sense of waste law. If the further handling of valuable residues implies risks for man or environment it is the task of the competent legislator to create suitable provisions to appropriately diminish such risks (if suitable legislation, e.g. European legislation on chemicals, is not available). Should a new process of primary production with new primary materials (intentionally produced) be invented and should this new primary production process imply new risks for man or environment then the new primary materials could never be considered as wastes. The task of creating suitable provisions to diminish the related risks arising from the invented primary production would however be the same for the legislator.