17 Waste codes
17 waste codes are construction and demolition wastes (including excavated soil from contaminated sites). Your permit lists the 17 waste codes you can use. You must follow the guidance given in the Before you start section.
If you are landspreading waste soil you must use the Environment Agency Monitoring Certification Scheme (MCERTS). See Use an accredited laboratory in Landspreading: waste and receiving soil analyses.
17 05 waste codes are soils (excluding excavated soils from contaminated sites), stones and dredgings.
You must not use soil from contaminated sites that contain dangerous or hazardous substances.
Landspreading waste soils can introduce animal pathogens. You must find out if the waste soil:
- comes from land that was occupied by livestock with infectious animal diseases
- has or could have pathogens, such as in dredging spoil
You must follow the guidance given for animal health and notifiable diseases in Landspreading: how to manage soil health.
17 05 04 Topsoil, peat, subsoil and stones only other than those mentioned in 17 05 03
You can use this waste if you hold:
- SR2010 No 4 – see table 2.2A
- SR2010 No 5 – see table 2.2
You must not landspread soil and stones containing contaminants and dangerous or hazardous substances.
You must not use:
- 17 05 03* Soil and stones containing hazardous substances
- 17 09 04 Mixed construction and demolition wastes other than those mentioned in 17 09 01, 17 09 02 and 17 09 03
You must follow the guidance in Landspreading: how to manage soil health for how to manage:
- contaminants
- pests and diseases
In the manage pests and diseases section see in particular:
- animal health and notifiable diseases
- invasive non-native plants
- harmful weeds
Spreading waste soil and stones can have wide environmental impacts in terms of physical, chemical and biological contamination. You must know the source of the waste. Its previous use will affect its properties and potential benefits.
Drill cuttings
This waste code includes drill cuttings which cover soil and stones from construction and demolition activities, such as tunnelling. Drill cuttings are solid wastes that are settled out of the drilling muds.
In your deployment application use the waste code and description 17 05 04 Topsoil, peat, subsoil and stones only other than those mentioned in 17 05 03. State if it is drill cuttings.
You must not use drill cuttings if they are mixed or contaminated with drilling muds or additives used in the drilling process. The waste code for that is 17 09 04 Mixed construction and demolition waste, which cannot spread to land under these standard rules permits.
Benefits and risks
Consider these benefits. It can:
- give a suitable medium to establish or support habitats and ecosystems to provide a long-term benefit
- increase soil depths or replace soil lost from agricultural land such as an erosion gully
The main benefit comes from the soil organic matter. You can use this waste:
- to improve the soil structure, porosity and water holding capacity
- to provide nutrient supply (phosphate and potash), retention and availability
- for its liming benefits if using chalky materials
This waste material is variable. You must consider this when you decide what waste analysis is required. Justify in your benefit statement any waste analysis parameters that you have not included.
You must know the site where the waste came from and its history. The previous use affects the type of contaminants present. You must also consider this when you identify what waste analysis is required.
Although aimed at the construction industry you may find the Code of practice for the sustainable use of soils on construction sites useful.
17 05 06 Dredging spoil other than those mentioned in 17 05 05
You can use this waste if you hold:
- SR2010 No 4 – see table 2.2B
- SR2010 No 5 – see table 2.2
You must not use 17 05 05* Dredging spoil containing hazardous substances.
You must not landspread dredging spoil containing pathogens, contaminants, dangerous or hazardous substances.
You must follow the guidance in Landspreading: how to manage soil health for how to manage:
- contaminants
- pests and diseases
In the manage pests and diseases section see in particular:
- animal health and notifiable diseases
- invasive non-native plants
- harmful weeds
Be aware that the mud fraction of dredging spoil can be high in organic matter. Materials containing organic matter can absorb metals, persistent organic residues, bacteria, pathogens and viruses.
Benefits and risks
Consider these benefits. It can:
- give organic matter and nutrients in phosphate form and organically bound nitrogen– the assumed mineralisation rate for dredging spoil is 3%
- provide mineral material – for example, it can be a sandy material to form soil in land restoration and habitat creation projects
- increase soil volume
Consider these risks:
- dredging spoil can contain infectious diseases such as anthrax – see animal health and notifiable disease in Landspreading: how to manage soil health
- sediments from inland waterways (canals in particular) may be polluted with contaminants
- contaminants typically come from historical industrial and other discharges and may contain dangerous and hazardous substances
- high suspended solids content sludges may coat plants, either suffocating them or temporarily reducing their ability to photosynthesise
- oils and tributyltin residues may be present in some dredging spoil from both commercial and leisure boating centres, especially where boat building and maintenance yards are located
Operational considerations
You must assess the likely contaminants in dredging spoil. Use local knowledge of historical upstream discharges such as fertiliser compounders under the animal by-products regulations and get advice from external organisations such as Animal Plant and Health Agency.
For example, there may be local knowledge of:
- grazing animal disease outbreaks connected to a specific area after deposition of sediment during flooding or bank collapse
- similar outbreaks of bacterial infections such as salmonella from upstream sources
When you spread dredging spoil as a nitrogen fertiliser you do not need to include dredgings in the N-max calculation. The availability of nitrogen in dredgings is approximately 3%. For more information on N-max see Catchment sensitive farming nitrate vulnerable zone record keeping and my farm business
Dredging spoil can be mainly made up of inorganic material. It can have a similar make-up to mineral topsoil. This is generally between 1 and 10% organic matter. You can compare spreading dredgings with spreading mineral topsoil as both add volume to the existing soil. Organic wastes are different because they degrade and have a negligible effect on the final soil volume.
Application rate
Potentially toxic elements and the limits that must be met are given in the Sewage sludge in agriculture: code of practice. These limits apply to this waste not just sewage sludge.
You can use the mixing ratio of the dredgings and the field soil when you calculate the concentrations of nutrients and potentially toxic elements.
Here is an example.
A field soil has a particular nutrient such as a phosphate content of 100mg/kg and the dredgings a content of 10mg/kg of the same nutrient. If you mix the soil and the dredgings in a 1:1 mass ratio, the mixed material will have (100 + 10)/2 = 55mg/kg of that nutrient.
This has the effect of diluting the nutrient or potentially toxic element concentrations in the receiving soils. However, any waste recovery to agricultural land must not result in the receiving soil exceeding the maximum permissible concentration of each given potentially toxic element. You will need to:
- carry out a site-specific assessment of the risks
- provide justification with data or estimates of the mineral content of the waste and bulk density of the waste and soils