Waste passport: what is it and why is it needed

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

Waste is one of the leading environmental problems worldwide. Every year their number only increases. As the population grows and the well-being of people increases, so does the pressure on their environment. Including due to the accumulation of various ballast materials, often harmful to nature and society. They are very reluctant to solve this problem, especially in Russia. And this despite the fact that waste poses a serious threat to the environment and human he alth. The waste passport allows you to increase control, assess the extent of their impact on the environment and determine the best ways to process them.

Why is the problem of waste especially relevant for Russia?

Every year in Russia about 50 million tons of municipal solid waste and a huge amount of by-products of industrial production are generated. Almost all of this amount is sent to landfill. All reception optionsnew and new batches of MSW and other wastes have already largely exhausted themselves. Often, places for the burial of such materials do not meet the established sanitary standards.

How ironic it looks that the higher the standard of living of Russians, the more waste is stored annually at various landfills and unorganized garbage dumps. On average, each Russian produces about half a ton of solid waste a year.

While in Europe up to 60% of solid waste is recycled, in Russia this figure is an order of magnitude lower. This means that without taking radical measures, the environmental situation in the country will only worsen.

Categories and classes of waste

All waste is divided into municipal and industrial. A small part of them forms an additional type of waste - military waste.

The composition of the waste can be solid, liquid and gaseous. Solid waste is the most common.

According to the level of danger to the environment and humans, they are divided into classes:

• 1st class - especially hazardous waste;
• 2nd class - very hazardous waste;
• 3rd class – medium hazard waste;
• 4th class – low hazard waste;
• 5th class - non-hazardous or with an insignificant level of danger.

The bulk of municipal waste is municipal solid waste.

Why do I need a waste passport?

Different papers are required for legal waste management. Passportwaste is an important document. It is necessary for the correct handling of them. Based on the information contained in it, the optimal and least harmful method of disposal is selected. By law, a waste passport must be present without fail.

This document includes data on the composition and degree of danger of waste. It also indicates whether they belong to a particular type. The only exception is hazard class 5 waste. Passportization is not mandatory for them.

In addition to the above, a passport for waste of hazard class 1-4 is also required for the following tasks:

• Organization of places where waste will be stored and where they will be stored. This implies that the shelf life will be at least 11 months. Otherwise, no storage license will be issued.
• Transportation of waste to landfill or recycling sites.
• To develop optimal guidelines for dealing with and handling waste.
• To transfer the rights to use waste to other production organizations. This is necessary to minimize potential risks to worker he alth and the environment.

All information contained in the passport must be absolutely reliable. Do not underestimate the hazard class or indicate incorrect or inaccurate information about the composition. Failure to do so may result in a fire or release of toxic substances into the environment and put workers at risk.

Onwhat kind of waste passport is covered, and who makes the waste passport

Not all waste falls under Decree No. 712 on certification of waste. Some of them are regulated by other legislative acts, or not regulated at all. For example, if the waste has hazard class 1-4, a passport is required. However, it does not apply to materials and substances such as:

• hazard class 5 waste;
• radioactive and biological substances;
• materials that emit ozone-depleting substances and greenhouse gases, excluding obsolete materials;
• medical waste;
• various emissions and discharges.

For the most hazardous waste, a special certification procedure is provided, consisting of several points.

Filling out the waste passport is carried out by those entrepreneurs or legal organizations whose operation leads to the appearance of hazardous waste.

Do I need to draw up documents for waste of the fifth hazard class?

Hazard class 5 waste management does not require serious legal training and a passport. However, some documentation is needed in this case as well. Such waste must be certified by the following papers:

• Documented information about the assignment of waste hazard class 5. Anyone who produces and/or stores household or industrial waste must have such a certificate. It should contain such characteristics as the state of aggregation,component composition, FKKO code, physical condition.
• The documents should contain information about the conditions for the appearance of these wastes by an enterprise or other organization.

Terms and responsibilities for waste management

If the waste is included in the FKKO list, the validity of the passport is not limited. Three calendar days are allotted for drawing up a hazardous waste passport. Then he enters Rosprirodnadzor. Rosprirodnadzor has 30 working days to approve the waste passport.

The cost of compiling this document when ordering the corresponding service from third-party specialists is at least 6,500 rubles.

As a measure of responsibility for improper waste management and lack of a passport, a fine is applied: 10-30 thousand rubles for individuals and 100-250 thousand rubles for organizations. In the latter case, their activities may be suspended for up to 3 months.

In conclusion

Thus, the waste passport is a mandatory legal document designed to increase control in the field of waste management. It is compiled for almost all hazard classes except the lowest. For this, various studies are carried out, including laboratory ones. The absence of a waste passport from the responsible organization entails the payment of fines with a possible suspension of business activities. In the passport it is unacceptable to indicate unreliable and "taken from the ceiling" information. Some types of waste are not coveredregulations on mandatory passportization.