Publication of the 2nd Version of APA’s Technical Note on the Classification of Soils and Rocks as By-products
Yesterday, the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA, I.P.) published the 2nd version of the Technical Note on Soils and Rocks on its website.
For some time now, under the General Waste Management Regime and in line with the provisions of the Waste Framework Directive, APA has been able, on its own initiative, to authorise the classification of certain substances or objects as by-products, provided they originate from a production process whose primary purpose is not their production, and that specific conditions and criteria are met.
Within this framework, in 2021, APA published a technical note for the classification of excavated, uncontaminated soils and rocks from construction works as by-products.
Over the past four years of applying the technical note, several issues and practical difficulties have been identified, which no doubt prompted the release of this second version.
The following changes are particularly noteworthy:
- Extension of the scope of application to construction works exempt from prior control under Article 7 of the Legal Framework for Urban Development and Building;
- Specification of the parameters to be analysed to confirm soil quality;
- Inclusion of parameters for assessing the release of hazardous substances into the environment;
- Revision of the declaration model for the classification of soils and rocks as by-products.
However, significant issues remain unresolved.
Further clarification on this new version of the Technical Note available here.
