Non-hazardous waste

Non-hazardous waste is waste that does not display any of the hazardous properties listed in Regulation (EU) No 1357/2014 (which sets out properties HP 1 to HP 15, replacing Annex III of the Waste Framework Directive). In other words, it is not toxic, flammable, corrosive, infectious or ecotoxic, and it does not pose a direct risk to human health or the environment. It is, by far, the largest fraction of the waste generated by households, businesses and industry.

Typical examples include paper and cardboard, lightweight packaging, packaging plastics, furniture, clean ferrous scrap, bricks and uncontaminated concrete. Because these materials carry no hazardous risk, the priority is not to neutralise them but to keep them circulating as secondary resources.

How non-hazardous waste is classified: the European Waste List

The European Waste List (EWL/LER) classifies every waste produced in the European Union using six-digit codes. The key rule is simple: entries marked with an asterisk (*) are hazardous, and all other entries are non-hazardous. A clear example is code 20 01 01, which corresponds to paper and cardboard collected separately.

The list groups waste into 20 chapters, and most chapters contain both hazardous and non-hazardous categories (so-called mirror entries). For example:

• Chapter 17 (construction and demolition waste): 17 01 01 concrete is non-hazardous, while 17 06 05* construction materials containing asbestos are hazardous.
• Chapter 20 (municipal waste): 20 01 08 biodegradable kitchen and canteen waste is non-hazardous, while 20 01 21* fluorescent tubes are hazardous.

This coding is what allows different streams to be separated and managed correctly, and it is the same system used to identify hazardous waste.

Examples of non-hazardous waste by sector

Although the term sounds generic, non-hazardous waste is very diverse depending on where it comes from:

Household and municipal waste

• Lightweight packaging: plastic bottles, cans and beverage cartons.
• Organic waste: food scraps, pruning and garden waste.
• Bulky items: sofas, mattresses and chairs.
• Glass: bottles and jars deposited in the glass container.

Industrial waste

• Wooden pallets that can be reused or repaired.
• Packaging plastics from transport and logistics.
• Clean ferrous scrap and other recyclable metals.
• Textile waste from the fashion and upholstery industries.

Construction and demolition waste (CDW)

• Bricks, tiles and ceramics that are not contaminated.
• Clean concrete, which can be recovered as recycled aggregate.
• Untreated wood from formwork or structures.

Management of non-hazardous waste in Spain

In Spain, Law 7/2022 on waste and contaminated soil for a circular economy requires that waste be collected separately whenever it is technically and economically feasible. In practice this means separate streams for paper and cardboard, glass, packaging, bio-waste and a residual fraction, increasingly supported by door-to-door schemes and user-identification systems that encourage separation at source.

According to Eurostat, Spain recycled around 43% of its municipal waste in 2023, still below the European target of 55% by 2025 set by Directive (EU) 2018/851 amending the Waste Framework Directive. Closing that gap depends largely on improving the separate collection and material recovery of non-hazardous waste.

Regulatory framework

The management of non-hazardous waste rests on a broad set of rules:

• The Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, which establishes the waste hierarchy: prevention, preparation for reuse, recycling, other recovery and disposal.
• The EU Circular Economy Package (2018), which raised recycling targets and tightened limits on landfilling.
• Law 7/2022, which transposes EU requirements into Spanish law.
• Regional waste plans, through which each autonomous community adapts collection and recovery strategies to its territory.

Non-hazardous waste and the circular economy

Managing non-hazardous waste well is central to the transition towards a circular economy. Rather than treating it as worthless rubbish, it is understood as a stock of secondary resources that can re-enter production cycles, sometimes as by-products.

This is the logic behind industrial symbiosis, where the waste of one company becomes the raw material of another. Common examples include organic waste from supermarkets feeding biogas plants, recycled plastics used in urban furniture, and clean construction rubble reused as aggregate in roads. Where material recovery is not possible, the energy recovery of the residual fraction sits lower in the hierarchy than recycling but above landfill.

At Manglai we help companies measure their environmental footprint and prepare their sustainability reporting, including the waste indicators required by frameworks such as the CSRD. Discover how Manglai can help you.