Waste Management E2E Process Blog Series Step 4: Characterizing Waste Material

The fourth step in the Waste Management E2E Process for All Countries Blog Series – South African Example is to characterize the waste material for South Africa.

In the previous steps, Waste Management E2E Process Blog Series Step 2: Defining a Waste Code Catalogue and Waste Management E2E Process Blog Series Step 3: Waste Containers, we created and defined the waste code catalogue to follow the correct waste disposal procedures for our chosen country/region (South Africa) and specified the waste container to transport the waste correctly, but we have not defined what kind of waste it is.

To do this, we will characterize the waste. This is the process by which the composition of different waste streams is analyzed and plays an important role in the treatment of waste for disposal.

We characterize waste material by defining the waste-related information of the material including a related packaged product, done in the prerequisite steps of Waste Management E2E Process for All Countries Blog Series – South African Example, waste codes and dangerous goods. This is all done so that the waste material can be transported and disposed in a legally compliant way.

Characterizing the waste material is done in the Manage Material Data app by defining the type of waste and how it will be transported. There are two kinds of waste, hazardous and non-hazardous. You can only transport hazardous waste in packaged products and non-hazardous waste can be transported in packaged and unpackaged products.

Follow the steps for the Best Practices scope item Waste Management (60H) Manage Material Data test procedure and see the screenshots for the South Africa example below for reference.

Note: Remember that you will need to be assigned the Environmental Manager role to do this step.

Waste Characterization for South Africa – Products

Waste Characterization for South Africa – Waste Code Catalogue

For more information on the app itself, see Manage Material Data.