Waste management, according to the hierarchy established by the Lansink scale, is part of a significant context of circular economy and preservation of resources. From prevention, to reuse and recycling, through recovery and ultimately landfilling, all levels involve the expertise of the ISSeP, to a greater or lesser extent.
Today, the missions that the ISSeP assumes for the administration concern the characterization of waste, the assessment of the environmental impact of treatment installations and the problems of point pollution caused by waste. A more recent aspect of the missions concerns the evaluation of the potential of waste as secondary raw materials.
The ISSeP is aware of the environmental issues related to waste management and is also involved in the adaptation of the relevant regulatory texts.
MISSION
Environmental monitoring network of technical landfill centers (CET)
Since 1998, the Police and Control Department (DPC) has entrusted ISSeP with the management of the control network for class 2 technical landfill centers (CET) in Wallonia. The network has 12 CETs, of which in 2023, 9 will be temporarily or permanently rehabilitated (Cour au Bois, Mont-Saint-Guibert, Tenneville, Cronfestu, Happe-Chapois, Belderbusch, Morialmé, Malvoisin, Froidchapelle) and 3 still in operation (Hallembaye , Champ de Beaumont and Habay). Periodic environmental investigation campaigns on and around these sites are carried out by the ISSeP. They aim to understand their environmental impact on potential receptors (groundwater, surface water, ambient air quality, etc.), to formulate recommendations to the DPC and operators but also to evaluate the performance of the corrective measures implemented to counteract identified pollution. Gradually, monitoring was extended to old class 2 controlled landfills, to class 3 CET (inert waste) and to class 5 CET (CET dedicated to industrial waste). Annually, the ISSeP verifies that operators correctly fulfill their monitoring obligations by examining standardized encoding files of the results of self-checking analyses. These results feed a database dedicated to CETs, the exploitation of which allows us to have a vision of the environmental situation for each site and a more transversal approach to CETs in Wallonia.
All C.E.T. campaign reports integrated into the control network are available in electronic format on the control network website:
http://environnement.wallonie.be/data/dechets/cet/00intro/00_1mi.htm
Post-management of technical landfill centers and former controlled landfills
Some closed and rehabilitated landfill sites are still in the post-management phase for several decades. Post-management consists of continuing to manage the treatment facilities for residual emissions from a site (percolates and biogas) and ensuring environmental monitoring on and around the site. The ISSeP provides technical and scientific support to the Department of Management Infrastructure and Waste Policy (DIGPD, SPW ARNE) in order to evaluate the possibilities of ceasing this post-management and defining the criteria. In other words, it is necessary to define when post-management activities can be stopped while guaranteeing the environmental safety of a site on the identified receptors.
The ISSeP’s missions linked to the monitoring of technical landfill centers and former landfills lead to adaptations of existing regulations and the drafting of technical guides for the administration and operators to help them in their procedures.
Database and encoding masks for self-monitoring of water around CET
In a desire to simplify the communication channels between the operators of technical landfill centers (C.E.T.), the Administration and the ISSeP responsible for managing the control network, the Institute developed in 2013 an IT tool (mask encoding) allowing standardized encoding of the self-checking results of liquid matrices on the C.E.T. (percolates, wastewater treatment plant discharges, surface water and groundwater). This tool is designed in such a way that the results can directly feed a database targeted on C.E.T. This database, called OGRE (for Environmental Results Management Tool), is used to draw environmental statistics either at the scale of the C.E.T. monitoring network. or either for a C.E.T. especially.
The encoding mask output interface has been designed to meet the reporting requirements imposed for classified installations in accordance with the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED Directive).
Exit from waste status and recognition of by-products
Since 2019, the ISSeP has been examining applications for exit from waste status and recognition of by-products on behalf of the Department of Management Infrastructure and Waste Policy (DIGPD, SPW ARNE). These concepts and the conditions that support them open the doors to circularity of materials, guaranteeing substances a level of technical and environmental quality equivalent to that of raw materials. The obligation to exit the waste status of recycled aggregates produced from inert waste since July 1, 2021 has prompted a significant investment for its implementation. The ISSeP was on the front line for examining registration application files and leading specific working groups set up between 2020 and 2022, in order to clarify administrative procedures and identify solutions for management. more operational use of recycled aggregates in processing centers. With stakeholders in the field, the ISSeP notably set up a sampling procedure dedicated to recycled aggregates, which was integrated into the CWEA at the beginning of 2022.
The list of decisions and records for exiting waste status or recognition of by-products is available on the SPW website:
Monitoring of rehabilitation of polluted sites, characterization of pollution
The ISSeP provides technical and scientific support to the Department of Police and Controls (DPC) when the latter is faced with local pollution problems (illegal dumping of waste, fuel oil contamination in private homes, etc.). Sampling and analysis campaigns are carried out to determine the origin of the pollution, its extent as well as the impact and risks on receptors. At the end of its investigations, the ISSeP makes recommendations and proposes curative measures to alleviate the problem. The Institute is also involved in monitoring large-scale rehabilitation and sanitation work on polluted sites. He actively participates in support committees as a DPC expert and carries out independent campaigns aimed at verifying the absence of impact linked to sanitation works.
Implementation of the Walloon Waste-Resources Plan (PWD-R)
The ISSeP intervenes within the framework of the implementation of the actions included in the Walloon Waste Resources Plan. Particularly concerning asbestos-containing materials, the ISSeP carried out a study aimed at drawing up an inventory of the presence of asbestos in Walloon territory and then estimating the quantity of asbestos-containing materials in Walloon buildings (by type of material and by types of buildings (industrial, educational, administrative, etc.)). These flow estimates associated with demolition costs served as a basis for proposing avenues for reflection regarding the priorities to follow in the progressive removal of asbestos from Walloon buildings. At the same time, a second study carried out by the ISSeP as part of the ENVIES Plan and called “ACTAMIANTE” aimed to implement regulatory and information actions aimed at reducing the exposure of the Walloon population to asbestos. Certain recommendations were integrated into the AGW project promoting the waste hierarchy adopted at first reading by the Government in February 2022. Following these first two studies, the collaboration between the Institute and the Administration continues in 2023 through various investigations to respond to PWDR missions regarding asbestos waste in Wallonia.
One-off studies
At the request of the Office of the Minister responsible for the environment or the administration, occasional studies are carried out by the ISSeP in terms of waste management installations and reduction of the environmental impact linked to their operation. They generally target a specific theme. Thus, for example, the following projects were carried out:
Development of an innovative sector for the recovery of land infested by an invasive plant, Japanese knotweed.
Study relating to the presence of PFAS in liquid matrices on and around CETs.
Characterization of objects and materials entering metal crushers in Wallonia.
Large-scale investigation control relating to groundwater pollution by chlorinated solvents.
Development of a roadmap for waste management infrastructure.