Waste-sorting obligation for Walloon enterprises

On 5 March 2015, the Walloon Government adopted an Executive Act (published in the Belgian Gazette on 16 March 2015), which obliges enterprises to sort their waste.

1. Objectives

The Executive Act embodies the Walloon Government’s objectives laid out in its declaration on regional policy for 2009–2014. It also finalizes the transposition of the 2008/98 CE directive of the European Parliament of 19 November 2008. With households already under obligation to sort waste, a similar regime for enterprises was desirable. Therefore, this Executive Act gives a legal basis for the obligation of waste sorting for undertakings.

2. Obligation holder

Any enterprise or public body which is a:

• waste producer: any undertaking whose activities produce waste and/or which carries out pre-processing mixing or other operations that change the nature or composition of this waste,

or,

• waste holder: any enterprise holding waste produced on site by clients, visitors or users.

3. Content of the obligation

Certain types of waste must be separated when their quantity reaches the thresholds set out in this table.

4. Terms and conditions

This obligation does not concern waste collected by public services or waste collected from public spaces.

Sorted waste must remain separated during its collection and transport. The following conditions apply when gathering the different types of waste:

• Only waste transported to an approved waste-sorting centre.

• Waste must be dry.

• The gathering must not make sorting, recycling or recovery operations less effective.

Waste producers or holders must keep evidence of their compliance with the sorting obligation for at least two years. The following are accepted as evidence:

• Contracts, invoices or certifications issued by the collector or the manager of a collection, recovery or waste treatment centre, provided that they state the identity of the parties, the nature of the waste treated, and the frequency and places of collection.

• When using services provided by the municipality of the producer/holder’s place of business, evidence that a local regulation or the regulation on access to the container park of the municipal organization in charge of waste management authorizes the acceptance of the producer/holder’s waste.