UK support for EU LEACHXS expert database on waste characterisation

Abstract:

<p>This document is the final report to Defra for the project titled 'UK support for EU LEACHXS expert database on waste characterisation'.</p> <p>Strategies to manage the environmental challenges posed by wastes require good quality data on waste characteristics such as leachability and composition. Public domain datasets for UK wastes tend to be limited in number and extent and those that are available are stored in disparate locations and media. The data cannot easily be evaluated or compared either with other UK data or with more extensive non-UK datasets. Information on the quality of residues arising from new waste technologies and treatments are particularly sparse.</p> <p>LeachXS&copy; is an expert system for managing and modelling waste characterisation data. It has been developed by ECN (Netherlands), DHI (Denmark) and Vanderbilt University (US), contains 5M&euro; waste data and incorporates: <bl> <li>An Access database of public domain information on leachability and composition,</li> <li>Data management tools allowing comparison of data by waste type or constituent,</li> <li>A powerful geochemical speciation/transport model, "ORCHESTRA".</li> </bl></p> <p>WRc and ECN obtained Defra funding under the "understanding waste composition and trends" theme of the Waste Evidence programme: <bl> <li>To provide a national waste characterisation database focusing on composition and leachability, as a national satellite database to EUleachXS&copy;,</li> <li>To further develop data management tools to increase the value of the dataset.</li> </bl></p> <p>LeachXS&copy; is a powerful secondary research tool containing appropriate publicly available data on the composition and leachability of approximately 2000 European waste samples including data for UK and German wastes collated for this project. The UK dataset can therefore be interrogated by end-users in the context of the wider, pan-European leachXS database.</p> <p>Simple data management tools enable the novice user to rapidly compare the characteristics of different wastes, allowing for example comparison of characteristics of: <bl> <li>Generic waste types from different plants (e.g. slags from different locations);</li> <li>Residues from different treatment technologies (e.g. the MSW gasification residues versus MSW incineration residues);</li> <li>Inputs and outputs from a treatment plant to determine impact of treatment on pollution potential;</li> <li>UK wastes with potentially more extensive datasets for similar non-UK wastes.</li> </bl></p> This report contains an executive summary, and is divided into the following sections: <ol> <li>Introduction</li> <li>The leachSX&copy; expert system</li> <li>Collation of datasets</li> <li>Application of leachSX&copy;</li> <li>Outcome</li> <li>Suggestions</li> </ol>

Author(s):

WRC