Sustainable Waste Management Techniques

for the
Extractive Industries!
Module Code: 7EH002

Content
Extractive Industry Waste
The Concept of Waste Management
Extractive Waste Management
Understanding Extractive Wastes
Methods of Extractive Waste Management
Extractive Waste Assessment & Classification
Case Studies
Available Regulation(s)
Conclusions!
Questions?

Introduction to Extractive Industry Waste

What are Extractive Industry Wastes?
What is the Extractive Industry?

Why is this sector so important?

Introduction to Extractive Industry Waste

Resources

Management
Extraction
Regulations

Application /Uses

What are Extractive Industry Wastes?

These are waste generated from the
Extractive Industry.
However, this dependents mostly on
the accepted definition of waste in
the institution or region of interest.

The UN defines waste as any

substance the holder discards, or is
intended to, is required to discard.

What is the Extractive Industry?

This is the industry that deals
with the extraction, management
and expenditure of our natural
and environmental resources.
Essentially the extractive industry
is concerned with the physical
extraction of metals, minerals and
aggregates from the Earth.

What is the Extractive Industry?

The extractive industry is made up of the
mining, quarrying, dredging, oil and gas
extraction industries. These differ in
what, how and where they extract.
Mining can be defined as the extraction
of metals and solid fossil fuel, and
extraction can take place in either an
underground mine or in an above
ground mine, known as a surface mine,
'open-cast mine', 'open-pit' or just 'pit'.

What is the Extractive Industry?

Quarrying can be defined as the
extraction of aggregates and industrial
minerals above ground. Dredging can
be defined as the extraction of marine
aggregate underwater.
Oil extraction can be defined as the
extraction of liquid fossil fuel,
and gas extraction can be defined as
the extraction of gaseous fossil fuel.

Why is this sector so important?

Development of Extractive Industries
around oil, gas, and minerals holds the
promise of improving living standards for
people around the globe (UNDP, 2014).
Many countries have financed their
development through resource extraction
(UNDP, 2013); And there are a lot of
opportunities in the industry
(WORLDBANK, 2014).

Characterization of an average
mine workforce.

The Concept of Extractive Waste Management

When considering the CofWM, the
highest option in the priority order
is required to be chosen.

This is because in decision-making

process, impact considerations must
be taken into account.
Though this means a lower option in
the hierarchy, it results in a better
environ outcome (Defra, 2011).

Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC)

The Concept of Extractive Waste Management

Best practice Waste Regulations sets out the
following impact considerations that must be
taken into account when deciding on a waste
management option:
(a) The general environmental protection
principles of precaution and sustainability;
(b) Technical feasibility and economic viability;
(c) Protection of resources;
(d) The overall environmental, human health,
economic and social impacts (Defra, 2011).

The Concept of Extractive Waste Management

Principle 1 The waste hierarchy
a. In the EU Hazardous waste should be managed by waste
producers and waste managers in accordance with the EU waste
hierarchy.
Opting for hazardous waste management that takes into account
the resource value of hazardous wastes, and the need for health
and safety to be maintained and delivers the best overall
environmental outcome. This may require specific hazardous waste
streams (Like Extractive Wastes) departing from the hierarchy
where this is justified by life-cycle thinking on the overall impacts of
the generation and management of such waste.

The Concept of Extractive Waste Management

b. The hierarchy shall apply as a priority order in line with the Waste
Framework Directive (2008/98/EC):
(i) Prevention
(iii)Recycling
(v) Disposal.

(ii) Preparing for re-use

(iv) Other recovery, e.g. energy recovery and

Note that; Prevention includes measures that reduce the adverse

impact of hazardous waste on the environment and human health
and reduce the content of harmful substances in materials and
products before they become waste, as well as a reduction in the
quantity of hazardous waste produced.

The Concept of Extractive Waste Management

Principle 2 Infrastructure provision
The development of hazardous waste
infrastructure is highly important;
So that the hierarchy for the management of
hazardous waste can be met.
Hence, to ensure that a nation as a whole is self
sufficient in her hazardous waste disposal, facilities
are put in place for hazardous waste recovery, and
then the proximity principle can be met.

The Concept of Extractive Waste Management

Principle 3 Reduce our reliance on landfill

The extractive industry must continue to

reduce its reliance on landfill for hazardous
waste, which should only be used where,
overall, there is no better recovery or
disposal option.

The Concept of Extractive Waste Management

Principle 4 No mixing or dilution
Where extractive waste cannot be prevented, waste producers and
waste managers are expected:
a. Not to mix different categories of waste, or mix hazardous waste
with other waste, substances, or materials, unless under the terms of an
environmental permit, and the mixing operation conforms to Best Available
Techniques,
b. Not to treat waste by the dilution of hazardous substances and,
c. To keep organic hazardous waste fractions separate from other
streams to assist with their subsequent management in line with the
hierarchy.

The Concept of Extractive Waste Management

Principle 5 Treatment of hazardous organic waste
Hazardous organic wastes that cannot be reused,
recycled or recovered shall be subject to destruction
using best available techniques, with energy
recovery for all appropriate treatments.
No hazardous organic waste shall be landfilled
unless the requirements of the Landfill Directive are
met.

The Concept of Extractive Waste Management

Principle 6 - End reliance on the use of Landfill Directive waste
acceptance criteria derogations
The practice of relying on higher Landfill Directive waste
acceptance criteria (derogation for 3x WAC) to enable hazardous
waste to continue to be landfilled must end.

But is this achievable?

And in your home country, is it realizable currently?

The Concept of Extractive Waste Management

The Concept of Extractive Waste Management

Decision Trees Concept
The Extractive Industry in deciding what to do with
their Hazardous Waste, had developed what is
called the Waste Strategy in some more developed
nations.
This, in the case of the UK, includes four decision
trees to help waste producers understand how to
apply the waste hierarchy to organic wastes,
inorganic wastes, waste articles and wastes which
are classed as mixed.

The Concept of Extractive Waste Management

The concept of extractive waste management relies on the
application of best suitable practices to the produce on any site.
This leaves the officer(s) with the need to understanding exactly
what is being dealt with, what the law says about handling the
product, and what is the best possible method of management
that can be applied to manage the substance.

So, a knowledge of the classification of extractive waste becomes a

necessary idea that the environmental and waste management
officer(s) should have at their finger tips.

VideoWorkshop:

Rock Jar & Life Exercise!

Workshop 1: Exercises & Video Analysis

Some 10 million cubic meters of water and 4.5 million cubic meters of fine sand from
a tailings pond of the Mount Polley copper gold mine spills into the environment.
Read up the story here: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/13/mount-polley-mine-spill-british-columbia-canada

Understanding Extractive Waste

In terms of classification, extracted
materials (other than saleable product)
according to Scottish regulations will fall
into one of the following classes:

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

unpolluted soil and peat

non-waste by-product
inert;
hazardous;
non-hazardous non-inert (i.e. being
neither inert nor hazardous).

Understanding Extractive Waste

a) Unpolluted Soil and Peat (where, if there
is no danger to human health or harm to
the environment, operators can make a
case to the planning authority that the
requirements of the Regulations should be
waived). These include;

(i) Top-soil that are detached during

extractive activities from the upper layer of
the ground and that is not deemed to be
polluted under national or community law.

Understanding Extractive Waste

ii) peat (where also, if there is no
danger to human health or harm to the
environment, operators can make a case
to the planning authority that the
requirements of the Regulations should
be waived);

Peat is not defined in the Regulations

although the term is commonly
understood.

Understanding Extractive Waste

There are important conservation issues
with peat bogs and their habitats which
should be reviewed through EIA and
planning decisions.

Peat is also encountered as overburden

which is removed to access other
mineral deposits. Thinner layers can
sometimes be described as peaty soil
or soily peat.

Understanding Extractive Waste

Sometimes thicker peat deposits are
removed in part or whole to be directly
respreads or trans-located elsewhere on
site as part of restoration. This may
involve prepared gradients to achieve
desired containment and water retention.
Such material can also be treated under
the same waiver. On some sites there can
be a thin layer of peaty silt between peat
and underlying rock or clay.

Understanding Extractive Waste

b). Non-waste by products; Waste rock,
overburden, and excavated materials
prepared for the replacement of mined
materials and to fill the void that has
been created by mining, during
rehabilitation processes, or to be used for
construction purposes.

These products are expected to remain on

site. Yet, before they are further used,
they ought to meet some criteria.

Understanding Extractive Waste

It is essential that operators obtain the
written approval of the planning
authority (UK) or regulating institution in
other regions on the identification of
material as non waste by products; there
is no scope for self declaration.
This can be done in advance or more
likely in tandem with the submission for
remaining materials (i.e. those which are
extractive waste - MWD).

Understanding Extractive Waste

c). Inert waste can be described as waste that does not undergo
any significant physical, chemical or biological transformations;

the total leachability and pollutant content of the waste and the
ecotoxicity of the leachate must be insignificant, and in particular
not such as to endanger the quality of either surface water or
groundwater.

Understanding Extractive Waste

For waste to be referred to as inert;
the waste will not undergo any
significant disintegration or
dissolution or other significant change
likely to cause any adverse
environmental effect or harm human
health;

the waste presents no risk of selfcombustion and will not burn;

Understanding Extractive Waste

For waste to be referred to as inert;
the waste has a maximum content of
sulphide sulphur of 0,1 %, or the
waste has a maximum content of
sulphide sulphur of 1% and the
neutralising potential ratio, defined as
the ratio between the neutralising
potential and the acid potential, and
determined on the basis of a static
test prEN 15875 is greater than 3

Understanding Extractive Waste

For waste to be referred to as inert;
the content of substances potentially
harmful to the environment or human
health in the waste, and in particular
As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mo, Ni, Pb, V and
Zn, including in any fine particles
potentially toxic in the waste, should be
sufficiently low, to be of insignificant
human and ecological risk, in both the
short and the long term.

Understanding Extractive Waste

In order to be considered as
sufficiently low to be of insignificant
human and ecological risk, the content
of these substances listed in the last
slide shall not exceed national (or
state) threshold values for sites
identified as not contaminated or
relevant national natural background
levels; and

Understanding Extractive Waste

For waste to be referred to as inert;
the waste finally, must be substantially free of products or
substances used in extraction or processing that could harm
the environment or human health.

Understanding Extractive Waste

For waste to be referred
to as inert;
The table beside, gives
us a brief run down of
some the quick things
to looked out for by
the waste or
environmental officer
or team.

Understanding Extractive Waste

d) Hazardous Waste;
is waste that is found to contain
substances that pose as a substantial or
potential threats to public health or the
environment.
The Hazardous Waste Directive (HWD) in
the UK defines hazardous waste as those
featuring on a list drawn up by the EC,
because they possess one or more of the
hazardous properties set out therein.

Understanding Extractive Waste

Hazardous Waste could be;
Absolute hazardous entries (red)
Or
Mirror hazardous entries (blue).
The absolute hazardous entries are automatically considered
hazardous and their description does not have a reference to
dangerous substances. Therefore, operators do not need to
find out what chemicals are in the waste in order to find out if it
is hazardous or not.

Understanding Extractive Waste

e). Non-Hazardous Non-Inert Waste;
is not defined in some standard
Regulations but can be considered to be
waste that is neither inert nor
hazardous.
The scope for such waste from current
Scottish mineral sites also appears to be
limited but might sometimes include the
material resulting from coal processing.

Methods of Extractive Waste Management

There are many options for managing
tailings and waste-rock. The most common
methods are:
discarding slurried tailings into ponds
backfilling tailings or waste-rock into
underground mines or open pits or using
them for the construction of tailings dams
dumping more or less dry tailings or
waste-rock onto heaps or hill sides

Methods of Extractive Waste Management

Other common methods are:

using the tailings and waste-rock as a

product for land use, e.g. as aggregates,
or for restoration
dry-stacking of thickened tailings

discarding tailings into surface water

(e.g. sea, lake, river) or groundwater.

Methods of Extractive Waste Management

Tailings and waste-rock management facilities vary vastly in size, e.g.
from swimming-pool- sized tailings ponds to ponds of over 1000
hectares, and from small tailings or waste-rock piles to waste-rock
areas of several hundred hectares or tailings heaps over 200 m high.
The choice of the applied tailings and/or waste-rock
management method depends mainly on an
evaluation of three factors, namely:
1). cost 2). environmental performance
3). risk of failure.

Extractive Waste Assessment & Classification

Assessing Extractive and other
waste as hazardous or nonhazardous is a multi-stage
process for the Environmentalist
or Waste Officer.
In best practice nations,
flowcharts and the supporting
text are used in actualizing this
process.

Extractive Waste Assessment & Classification

In general, nearly all household,
commercial and industrial waste
are "directive waste" (i.e., should
be looked up in the WFD) and as
such might be hazardous waste.

In England, these are excluded from

the scope of the Directive:

a) gaseous effluents emitted into

the atmosphere;
b) land (in situ) including
unexcavated contaminated soil
c) uncontaminated soil
However, the WFD excludes
d) radioactive waste;
certain wastes from its scope
entirely and others where they are e) decommissioned explosives;
covered by a separate legislation. f) faecal matter

Extractive Waste Assessment & Classification

Step 2: How is the waste coded and classified on the List of Waste?
The List of Waste (LoW) is a catalogue of all wastes.
Having 20 chapters 839 waste entries,
given a six-digit code, and split into three types:

wastes that are always hazardous, known as absolute

hazardous entries
wastes that are always non-hazardous, known as absolute
non-hazardous entries, and
wastes that may be hazardous or non-hazardous, known as
mirror hazardous and mirror non-hazardous entries.

Extractive Waste Assessment & Classification

Step 2: How is the waste coded and classified on the List of Waste?
The List of Waste (LoW) is a catalogue of all wastes.
Having 20 chapters 839 waste entries,
given a six-digit code, and split into three types:

wastes that are always hazardous, known as absolute

hazardous entries
wastes that are always non-hazardous, known as absolute
non-hazardous entries, and
wastes that may be hazardous or non-hazardous, known as
mirror hazardous and mirror non-hazardous entries.

Extractive Waste Assessment & Classification

In other to determine if a mirror entry is hazardous or nonhazardous you must understand that a mirror entry waste may be
hazardous or non-hazardous.
The next bit of the Flowchart and the supporting text below will
assist in determining the following:
whether such a waste possesses one or more of the hazardous
properties H1 H15, and
which of the LoW mirror entries is appropriate

Extractive Waste Assessment & Classification

In Step 3: are the substances in the
waste known or can they be
determined?
Waste holders have a duty to
determine if a mirror entry waste is
hazardous or non-hazardous. In order
to determine whether a mirror entry
waste is hazardous or not, you need
to know its composition.

Extractive Waste Assessment & Classification

There are three ways to determine the composition of a waste:

manufacturer's information such as a product safety data

sheet (SDS).

know fully the chemistry of a process such that the

composition of the waste is well understood, or

sample and analyse the waste to determine its composition. It

is important that you read Appendix D, before undertaking any
sampling, to ensure that any sampling is appropriate,
representative and reliable.

Extractive Waste Assessment & Classification

In Step 5: Does the waste possess any of the hazardous properties
H1 to H15?
Well in order for a waste identified by a mirror entry to be hazardous it
must display a hazardous property. The Hazardous Properties are mostly
listed in some regulations.

There are two methods to determine if a mirror entry waste has

hazardous properties. These are:

calculation - referring to a threshold limit for a risk phrase(s), or

testing to prove whether a particular hazardous property is

present or not

HAZARDOUS

Workshop 2: Case Study

The Hungary Case

Workshop 3: Case Study

Available Regulations
Different countries and states have their varying principles and
instruments used in regulating the wastes generated by their
extractive industries.
It is important to note that laws of the environment interwove
from related sectors. It is the duty of the operator to know and be
conversant with the laws and guiding principles that are applicable
to the activities that the operator is involved with.
A good environmental or waste team is mostly assembled to handle
such and related issues primarily.

Available Regulations
In the UK, there are some publicly
available technical documents to guide
interested individuals or organisations on
how to handle & manage extractive waste
such as:
a) The Statutory Guidance
SR2014 no 2: the management of
extractive waste.
Ref: LIT 10062

Available Regulations
b) GRA for SR2014 no 2: the management of extractive waste, not
including a waste facility, generated from onshore oil and gas
prospecting activities of drill, core and decommissioning without
well stimulation (using oil and / or water based drilling mud).
Ref: LIT 10063
c) WMP1: waste management plan for the management of extractive
waste (using only water based drilling mud).
Ref: LIT 10064
d) WMP2: waste management plan for the management of extractive
waste (using oil and water based drilling mud).
Ref: LIT 10065

Questions & Discussions

Thank you!