2018/0297/EE
EC/EFTA
EE Estonia
  • S20E - Waste
2018-09-28
2018-07-03

Tyre chips are used to make a product; the product and its production must meet the requirements laid down in the draft act

Requirements for tyre chips added to the shale oil production process

The European Union (EU) law distinguishes between the ‘waste regime’ and the ‘production regime’ based on the EU waste law (Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC and others). The waste regime means that waste may only be handed over to a person who has a waste permit (or an equivalent permit), a waste report must be submitted on its use and all requirements regulating waste operations must be met. Waste management requirements do not apply when waste is used in the production regime. In general, the products may be handed over and made freely available on the market, taking into account the additional requirements or restrictions imposed on a particular product.

Article 6 of the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) sets out general ‘end-of-waste’ requirements on the basis of which waste ceases to be waste when it undergoes a recovery operation and the object resulting from it meets particular criteria. The Waste Framework Directive allows, at both EU and Member State level, the end-of-waste criteria to be established directly under waste law in accordance with general principles. These have been established at EU level for instance in the case of black and coloured scrap metal and cullet. According to the Waste Act, such rules on the end-of-waste status have been established for compost produced from separately collected bio-waste and digestate resulting from biogas production, as well as for the product resulting from sewage sludge and oil shale separated from mining waste.

With the entry into force of the regulation, it will become possible for tyre-chip producers to remove scrap tyres from the waste regime and place on the market a product, i.e. tyre chips, which are used in combination with oil shale as a mechanical additive in pyrolysis with a solid heat carrier for the production of shale oil. Non-compliant tyre chips are considered waste if the requirements are not met by choice or cannot be met (e.g. due to the insufficient quality of tyre chips, gaps in the internal audit system, etc. of the undertaking or because tyre chips cannot be used for the intended purposes).

Two conditions must be met for tyre chips to cease to be waste. Firstly, tyre chips must be produced for use as a mechanical additive in shale oil production and the end-user must have an integrated environmental permit for carrying out this activity. Tyre chips must be used within 3 years of being produced. Secondly, tyre chips must meet the quality requirements set out in the regulation.