What is European Waste Classification (EWC) code?
The European Commission established the EWC codes to provide a list of waste types to use across Europe under Decision 2000/532/EC1.
It categorises waste based what it is and the process or activity that produces it. The EWC is split into 20 chapters; the majority are industry-based with a few based-on materials and processes. Each individual waste type is assigned a six-digit code made up of three pairs of digits; the first two specify the chapter, the next two indicate the subchapter, and the final two show the specific waste type. Hazardous (known as special in Scotland) waste are marked with an asterisk (*) at the end of the code. There are two types of hazardous waste absolute and mirror; mirror entries have a non-hazardous code as well. These appear consecutively in the list with one marked with an asterisk (*). It is important to accurately describe waste and to do so consistently with EWC codes as they are used for all waste transfer notes
, hazardous waste consignment notes and waste data returns.