On-site was­te manage­ment

The Com­mer­cial Was­te Ordi­nan­ce (Gew­AbfV) defi­nes the legal requi­re­ments for the on-site was­te manage­ment of com­mer­cial was­te in Ger­ma­ny. Sin­ce its revi­si­on in 2017, the legal requi­re­ments have been tigh­ten­ed seve­ral times. The Com­mer­cial Was­te Ordi­nan­ce obli­ges com­pa­nies to coll­ect recy­clable was­te such as paper, wood, metals, pla­s­tics and glass sepa­ra­te­ly and to send it for recy­cling or reco­very. The aim of the ordi­nan­ce is to increase recy­cling rates and redu­ce the envi­ron­men­tal impact of was­te. Impro­per dis­po­sal at the site can not only lead to increased resi­du­al was­te, but also to fines and pen­al­ties. The­r­e­fo­re, com­pa­nies must regu­lar­ly adapt their was­te dis­po­sal con­cepts to com­ply with the requi­re­ments of the Com­mer­cial Was­te Ordi­nan­ce.

Com­pa­nies are under the requi­re­ments of the Com­mer­cial Was­te Ordi­nan­ce (Gew­AbfV) legal­ly requi­red to dis­po­se of their was­te pro­per­ly and in an envi­ron­men­tal­ly respon­si­ble man­ner. This includes the obli­ga­ti­on to sepa­ra­te was­te, com­pli­ance with recy­cling quo­tas and docu­men­ta­ti­on of dis­po­sal pro­ces­ses. Depen­ding on the indus­try and type of was­te, com­pa­nies must deve­lop sui­ta­ble dis­po­sal con­cepts and ensu­re that their was­te is pro­ces­sed pro­fes­sio­nal­ly by cer­ti­fied was­te dis­po­sal com­pa­nies.

Com­pa­nies that vio­la­te the pro­vi­si­ons of the Com­mer­cial Was­te Ordi­nan­ce (Gew­AbfV) face hea­vy fines and sanc­tions, as impro­per was­te dis­po­sal can have serious con­se­quen­ces. In par­ti­cu­lar, the ille­gal dis­po­sal of hazar­dous was­te may result in sub­stan­ti­al finan­cial pen­al­ties or even clo­sure of ope­ra­ti­ons. Addi­tio­nal­ly, com­pa­nies risk repu­ta­tio­nal dama­ge, which can nega­tively impact their public image and busi­ness rela­ti­onships

A cer­ti­fied was­te manage­ment com­pa­ny is defi­ned in Sec­tion 56 (2) of the Ger­man Cir­cu­lar Eco­no­my Act (KrWG), which imple­ments the Euro­pean Was­te Frame­work Direc­ti­ve 2008/98/EC into natio­nal law. In order to obtain this cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on, a com­pa­ny must meet spe­ci­fic requi­re­ments and be par­ti­cu­lar­ly qua­li­fied in accordance with Sec­tion 56 of the KrWG. The­se requi­re­ments include relia­bi­li­ty, spe­cial exper­ti­se of both the owner and the employees, appro­pria­te tech­ni­cal equip­ment and the man­da­to­ry docu­men­ta­ti­on of all was­te manage­ment acti­vi­ties. A cer­ti­fied com­pa­ny may per­form various acti­vi­ties, each of which is sub­ject to strict regu­la­ti­ons and must be indi­vi­du­al­ly review­ed and cer­ti­fied. The­se acti­vi­ties include the coll­ec­tion, trans­por­ta­ti­on, sto­rage, tre­at­ment, reco­very, tra­ding and bro­ke­ring of was­te.

A cer­ti­fied was­te manage­ment com­pa­ny is a relia­ble part­ner who is sub­ject to spe­ci­fic regu­la­ti­ons and is regu­lar­ly audi­ted and re-cer­ti­fied. Thanks to its cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on, a was­te manage­ment com­pa­ny can be easi­ly reco­gni­zed as a trust­wor­t­hy ser­vice pro­vi­der.

On-site was­te dis­po­sal appli­es to a wide ran­ge of indus­tries, inclu­ding:

• Indus­try and manu­fac­tu­ring (e.g. che­mi­cals, auto­mo­ti­ve, metal pro­ces­sing)

• Logi­stics (e.g. pack­a­ging, return was­te)

• Cate­ring and hos­pi­ta­li­ty (e.g. food was­te, pack­a­ging mate­ri­als)

• Who­le­sa­le and retail (e.g. food was­te, pack­a­ging mate­ri­als, fats, wood, pla­s­tics)

• Health­ca­re (e.g. medi­cal was­te, hazar­dous sub­s­tances)

• Office and admi­nis­tra­ti­ve buil­dings (e.g. paper)

Every indus­try has spe­ci­fic requi­re­ments that must be taken into account during dis­po­sal in order to com­ply with legal regu­la­ti­ons.

The Com­mer­cial Was­te Ordi­nan­ce (Gew­AbfV) requi­res sepa­ra­te dis­po­sal for various types of was­te. The­se include, among others: The­se include, among others:

• Hazar­dous was­te (che­mi­cals, paints, medi­cal was­te)

• Orga­nic was­te (food lef­to­vers, com­post­a­ble pack­a­ging)

• Paper, card­board, car­ton (docu­ments, pack­a­ging mate­ri­als)

• Pack­a­ging (pla­s­tics, glass, metal)

Pro­per sepa­ra­ti­on and dis­po­sal of the­se was­te types is not only legal­ly man­da­ted but is also essen­ti­al for con­ser­ving resour­ces and pro­tec­ting the envi­ron­ment.

An exter­nal was­te offi­cer is a qua­li­fied indi­vi­du­al respon­si­ble within a com­pa­ny for moni­to­ring was­te from its gene­ra­ti­on to its reco­very or dis­po­sal (§ 9 AbfBe­auf­trV). In many cases, the was­te offi­cer plays a cen­tral role in imple­men­ting the Com­mer­cial Was­te Ordi­nan­ce (Gew­AbfV), par­ti­cu­lar­ly in ensu­ring com­pli­ance with site-spe­ci­fic dis­po­sal regu­la­ti­ons.
Ger­man legis­la­ti­on allows this posi­ti­on to be fil­led by an exter­nal expert (§ 5 AbfBe­auf­trV). Com­mer­cial Was­te Ordi­nan­ce (Gew­AbfV), par­ti­cu­lar­ly in com­pli­ance with the requi­re­ments for on-site dis­po­sal. The legal situa­ti­on allows the posi­ti­on to be fil­led by an exter­nal expert, Sec­tion 5 AbfBe­auf­trV.

In June 2017, the revi­sed ver­si­on of the Was­te Manage­ment Offi­cer Ordi­nan­ce (AbfBe­auf­trV) came into force. It defi­nes in detail which com­pa­nies requi­re a was­te manage­ment offi­cer. The­se include, for exam­p­le, land­fills, hos­pi­tals and cli­nics, but also manu­fac­tu­r­ers and dis­tri­bu­tors who take back a cer­tain volu­me of sales pack­a­ging or trans­port pack­a­ging each year. A was­te manage­ment offi­cer helps to imple­ment the requi­re­ments of the Com­mer­cial Was­te Ordi­nan­ce and ensu­re legal­ly com­pli­ant on-site was­te dis­po­sal. A com­ple­te list of all busi­nesses that are requi­red to appoint a was­te manage­ment offi­cer can be found here in theWas­te Manage­ment Offi­cer Ordi­nan­ce..