The asterisk on an EWC code: absolute hazardous entries

An asterisk after an EWC code marks that entry as hazardous in the List of Waste, which means the load is hazardous waste and must be classified, moved and recorded as hazardous. The asterisk is part of the code, not a footnote or a typing convention, so dropping it changes what the record says about the load.

Entries in the List of Waste fall into three kinds:

• Absolute hazardous entries carry an asterisk and are hazardous in every case. No sampling, no threshold, no judgement. If the waste fits the entry, it is hazardous.
• Mirror entries come as a pair with the same material described twice, one with an asterisk and one without. Which half applies depends on whether dangerous substances are present at or above the concentration thresholds in the government's waste classification guidance.
• Absolute non-hazardous entries have no asterisk and are never hazardous under the list.

So an asterisk always means hazardous. The thing it does not tell you is whether you had any choice in the matter.

An example off the yard

Asbestos cement sheets come off a demolition job and arrive on the back of a grab lorry. They sit under 17 06 05*, construction materials containing asbestos, an absolute hazardous entry. There is nothing to test and nothing to decide: the asterisk comes with the code.

Soil is the other case. Clean muck away goes under 17 05 04, soil and stones. Soil from a filling station forecourt could be 17 05 03*, soil and stones containing dangerous substances. The two codes describe the same lorry load of dirt, and you cannot pick between them by looking in the skip.

Once a load is under an asterisked code, three practical things follow.

First, the paperwork changes. Hazardous waste moves on a consignment note rather than an ordinary transfer note, so the asterisk is the point at which a load leaves the duplicate book behind.

Second, your permit or exemption has to allow you to accept that waste in the first place. An asterisked code on a load you are not permitted to take is a problem before it is a paperwork problem.

Third, the code you write is the code that ends up on your register and in your quarterly return. A dropped asterisk is not a formatting slip, it is a load described as non-hazardous on a statutory record. Type it as 17 06 05*, with the asterisk, every time.

Skiplog records the EWC code as one of the EA-mandated fields on a digital transfer note, next to waste type, quantity, carrier details and destination, so a note can be written in under two minutes on a tablet at the weighbridge. It does not classify the waste for you. Choosing the entry, and deciding whether a mirror pair needs an assessment, stays with the site.

• EWC code (List of Waste code): the six-digit code itself, how it is structured and where the list comes from.
• Hazardous waste consignment note: the record an asterisked load moves on instead of a transfer note.
• Mixed construction and demolition waste: the codes in the 17 09 group and how the hazardous and non-hazardous entries differ.
• Waste transfer note (WTN): the record for a non-hazardous transfer, and the fields it has to carry.
• Correcting a mistyped weight or EWC code: what to do when the wrong code is already on a note.