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WAC Testing

WAC stands for Waste Acceptance Criteria, and is used to determine whether the soil will be accepted at a particular type of landfill. The test also provides more information about how the material will behave once deposited.

WAC testing includes both solid analysis and leachate analysis. The solid analysis determines the degree of organic content, and tests for contaminants. The leachate level analysis indicates the potential level of contamination which could leech out of a landfill for different materials, and how this can affect groundwater or surface water.

The Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) describes minimum testing requirements that need to be met before waste can be disposed of in a landfill. If the waste is not in compliance with the WAC, it should not be accepted by a landfill.

WAC Testing for waste acceptance criteria needs to be undertaken if waste is deemed hazardous, or if it may be inert. Testing can also happen if the waste has been determined as potentially inert and there's an option to dispose of it in an inert landfill site.

Given the ever-changing costs associated with disposing of waste at landfill, WAC testing can allow the potential of non-hazardous waste to be shown in compliance with the inert WAC standards. This means that, if inert according to statutory requirements, it could be disposed of with other inert material which could see a significant reduction in disposal costs.

Although good practice to do so, waste going to landfill that is not hazardous is not required to be tested before disposal to a non-hazardous landfill.

The Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) became mandatory in July 2005, meaning all organisations have a duty of care with regards to the disposal of hazardous waste.

Waste analysis characterization does not designate specific types of waste as hazardous or nonhazardous. These classifications are dependent on pre-assigned parameters, which is determined by desk studies and subsequent testing results.

Non-hazardous waste does not need WAC testing unless disposal is being considered to an inert landfill.

If waste is deemed hazardous then a WAC test must be undertaken.

The classification of waste is required before it can be disposed, stored or treated. This ensures the appropriate ways to manage the material that are being handled. Waste classification is needed to determine what type of waste disposal your company should be using, including analyzing how much risk the materials will have and ensuring that all companies receiving your waste are permitted to handle it.

In practice, testing labs and consultants recommend a core suite of tests to cover the most common contaminants when surveying brownfield land, such as metals, hydrocarbons and asbestos. Tests conducted for contaminants in sites have been shown to be dependent on the knowledge of the site; a substation, for example, should always include PCBs during analysis.