As of the 1st of September 2023, the Environment Agency will withdraw the Regulatory Position Statement 250 (RPS 250).

The withdrawal of RPS 250 in England means that structural timbers, wooden tiling battens and external joinery from pre-2007 buildings, will no longer be accepted for recycling and recovery at wood recycling sites.

WHAT DOES THE WITHDRAWAL OF RPS 250 MEAN FOR ME?

If you work with demolition waste wood, you must ensure that you are well informed on these changes and are handling any potentially hazardous waste wood correctly. To do so, you must categorise your materials to deal with them appropriately.

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY WASTE WOOD IS HAZARDOUS?

You can build an accurate profile of your waste wood through Waste Wood Classification, which is the process of ensuring your materials are properly classified at origin and are processed into the appropriate end markets. By classifying waste wood, you can identify which items are hazardous under WM3 guidance and ensure they are dealt with appropriately.

HOW CAN I CLASSIFY MY WASTE WOOD?

Firstly IDENTIFY the type of wood using the WRA Toolkit. Once this is done, a sample from the whole piece (a cross-section from the middle no smaller than 150mm long) should be sent to a suitable laboratory for TESTING. Only then after this process should you determine whether you should ASSIGN or CONSIGN your materials.

WHAT IF MY WASTE WOOD IS HAZARDOUS?

If your waste wood is deemed hazardous, it must be consigned using a Hazardous Consignment note. The consignment note needs to be fully completed detailing the weight of the specific items and should then be segregated. Only when segregation is not practical can they be blended within a non-hazardous wood load.

Following this process, these materials can be sent to a wood reprocessor, where they can be blended into material that can be then used for IED Chapter IV compliant biomass energy plants or the manufacture of panel boards.

LOOKING FOR EXPERT SUPPORT?

If you handle demolition waste wood and need to build an accurate and reliable profile of your materials to determine whether they are deemed potentially hazardous, you need an expert.

Alfred H Knight has a wealth of experience in the sampling and analysis of a range of waste materials. As members of the Wood Recyclers Association (WRA), we help clients within the processing and recycling sectors to determine whether their waste wood is suitable for sending to a wood reprocessor through dedicated fuels and process residue testing services.

Our highly-skilled experts carry out waste wood classification services entirely in-house from our ISO17025 accredited laboratories, strategically located throughout the UK. Ensuring our clients get a swift, accurate and reliable service.

If you want to explore how we can help you with your waste wood, get in touch with an Alfred H Knight expert today via our contact page.