Waste protocols define the point at which a specific waste may become a product that can either be used, or supplied into other markets without the need for waste regulatory control. The first round of the BREW-funded project led to the publication of a protocol on the production and use of quality compost from source-segregated biodegradable waste earlier this year.
A further 8 protocols are currently under development: wood, waste vegetable oil, flat glass, non-packaging plastics, tyres (crumb and shred), contaminated soils (washed and stabilised), pulverised fuel ash and blast furnace slag.
In addition to steel slags the final materials chosen by the Environment Agency and WRAP-led project team for this round of the project were:
- Incinerator Bottom Ash
- Uncontaminated topsoil
- Gypsum from waste plasterboard
- Boiler ash from combustion of paper sludge
EEFÂ is represented on the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for steel slag, which will assist the Environment Agency and WRAP in developing the protocol. The work of TAG will commence in July and involve a number of site visits to EAF and BOS processing facilities, which we are coordinating.
Expectations are that a draft of the protocol would go out to formal consultation in autumn, followed by a formal launch in March 2008.