The fourth issue of International WasteNews 2005 from Waste Centre Denmark reports that, being an EU Member State, Sweden has had to transpose EU legislation in the waste area, including the provisions regarding classification of waste as hazardous or non-hazardous waste.

These provisions follow the set of rules applying to the classification of chemical substances and preparations. In practice, the rules are very difficult, if not impossible to apply when it comes to complex types of waste such as residues from energy and waste incineration plants. With support from, among others, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the Thermal Engineering Research Institute has prepared a guideline with a simplified method for classification.

RVF, The Swedish Association of Waste Management, has found this guideline so valuable that it has been published in the RVF report series. In the guideline, 15 inorganic reference substances are identified (Sb, As, Ba, Pb, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Hg, La, Mo, Ni, V, W and Zn) as well as four organic substances or substance groups (dioxins, PAH, HCB and PCB), and the samples are analysed for these substances.

Subsequently, the concentrations are assessed in relation to the properties that render waste hazardous