Landfilling of Gypsum Waste

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Environment Agency Position Statement: Landfilling of gypsum waste including plasterboard

Effective date

1st April 2009

Summary

Gypsum and plasterboard cannot be sent to landfill mixed with biodegradable waste.

Instead, all gypsum and gypsum-based products must either be recycled, or disposed of to ‘mono cell’ landfill or hazardous waste landfill.

How it affects you

If you work within a commercial organisation and you haven’t yet done so, you need to review your existing provisions for the disposal of gypsum-containing products.

For most organisations the simplest option will be to consult your existing waste management contractor and seek their recommendations. NB - it is your responsibility as the ‘waste producer’ to satisfy yourself that your contractor has disposed of your waste in a compliant manner and, if necessary, to produce supporting documentation to the Environment Agency. An acceptable document would be a suitably-completed Waste Transfer Note.

Put simply, you need to ensure that gypsum-based waste, of which plaster and plasterboard are probably the most common examples, is separated out from other, biodegradable waste and sent either to a recycler or to a suitably-permitted landfill.

In particular you must take steps to ensure that all Waste Transfer Notes provide a clear and accurate description of the wastes to which they relate.

Description

The Landfill Directive sets out the general conditions for the landfilling of waste with the aim of minimising the impact of landfill on the environment and to encourage waste minimisation and recycling. The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 set out the criteria for the acceptance of gypsum and other high sulphate bearing wastes at landfill:

‘Non-hazardous gypsum-based and other high sulphate bearing materials should be disposed of only in landfills for non-hazardous waste in cells where no biodegradable waste is accepted’.

Until November 2008 the Environment Agency took a pragmatic view that construction waste with a gypsum content of up to 10% did not have to be segregated from biodegradable waste destined for landfill.

However, recent developments in scientific research have shown that the relationship between the amount of sulphate waste and the production of hydrogen sulphide is complex. Hydrogen sulphide is a flammable and highly poisonous gas.

The Environment Agency therefore concluded that it was no longer possible to set an acceptable limit within which gypsum can be deposited with biodegradable waste without creating this gas.

For a full copy of their position statement on Landfilling of gypsum waste including plasterboard, please visit the Environment Agency web site.

If you are a producer of gypsum-based wastes and are still unsure about what you need to do, call the Grundon Technical Department on 01491 834340 or e-mail them at technical@grundon.com

Grundon Waste Management can supply suitable containers and best practice disposal methods for all types of gypsum based wastes.

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