Wastewater sludge or wastes? Regulatory environment issues

Summary

The current version of the Federal waste classification catalogue specifies the sludge generated in the process of municipal wastewater treatment as wastes. This causes the necessity of charging for negative impact on the environment produced during sludge disposal and storage. Nevertheless, the problem of classifying wastewater sludge subject to processing and deactivation at the sludge beds as wastes remains unclear. It is related to the fact that the Federal waste classification catalogue does not specify any characteristics of wastewater sludge classified as wastes related to the water content, aggregative state and physical form. An attempt of logical substantiation of the qualitative characteristics of wastewater sludge that shall be considered as production and consumer wastes is presented. The substantiation is based on the regulatory documents, literature references and operational data.

Key words

sludge bed , municipal wastewater sludge , production and consumer wastes , charges for negative impact on the environment