Waste Management 23 (2003) v
www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman
Editorial
Horizontal standardisation of test methods for waste, secondary
raw materials, construction materials, sludge, biowaste
and (contaminated) soil
Standardisation of methods is the key to the genera-
tion of comparable data among interested parties (reg-
ulatorindustryresearch). With the growth of the
number of topics in the last decades there has been a
process of splitting o sub-activities in standardisation
leading to a rather vertically organised standardisation
structure worldwide. In the environmental eld, reg-
ulatory developments have led to the realisation that
this process has gone too far. For the same regulatory
parameter in very comparable matrices, dierent stan-
dards with potentially dierent nal answers would have
to be specied. This leads to an unnecessary duplication of
work, both in the standards development as well as later in
the application of standards. This situation is most
apparent in the standardisation of analytical methods for
inorganic and organic parameters as well as in standardi-
sation of leaching tests. However, this observation is not
exclusive to the environmental eld as the number of
standards to assess the same physical parameter in dier-
ent construction materials is quite substantial.
The picture painted above calls for horizontal stan-
dardisation (development of standards for a wider range
of materials to the extent possible) and harmonisation
(standards applicable in dierent jurisdictions/coun-
tries) of methods. This will lead to a more ecient use
of limited resources, avoid unnecessary duplication of
work and make the process of drafting environmental
regulations more transparent. Fortunately, the issue of
horizontal standardisation is receiving growing atten-
tion lately due to the need for consistent European reg-
ulations. This is particularly relevant in situations where
parallel regulations are developed which apply to the
same material that, depending on its properties, can fall
under one or the other regulation (for example, judging
a material for recycling/utilisation versus disposal of
that material). Double testing, as required by the dier-
ent regulations with dierent requirements, is, in such
cases, often a waste of time and resources.
EU projects on the Harmonisation of Leaching/
Extraction tests covering a wide range of materialssoil,
sludge, biowaste, sediment, waste, stabilized waste, pre-
0956-053X/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2003.09.002
served wood and several construction materialshave led
to the realisation that leaching is a phenomenon with many
similarities in controlling factors and release mechanisms
across several elds. A limited number of characterisation
leaching tests suce to address the vast majority of the
possible questions that need to be answered, whether they
relate to direct or indirect human exposure, or environ-
mental impact in a more general sense.
The revision of the European Sewage Sludge Direc-
tive and the Draft Biowaste Directive call for standards
on sampling, on hygienic and biological parameters, on
methods for inorganic and organic contaminants and
methods for mechanical properties. For several of these,
parameters standards exist for the individual materials
sludge, soil and biowaste falling under these Directives.
A project has started to develop horizontal and harmo-
nised European standards in the eld of sludge, soil,
and treated biowaste (project HORIZONTAL) to facil-
itate regulation of these major streams in the multiple
decisions related to dierent uses and disposal governed
by these and future EU Directives.
Horizontal standardisation should not eliminate
functional distinctions between materials nor eliminate
relevant procedural aspects. However, such distinctions
should be well documented and justied. The con-
sequence of horizontal standardisation will be a mod-
ular approach in standards development, which would
allow an easier exchange of modules between dier-
ent elds and lead to substantial cost savings, both in
the development as well as in the application of stan-
dards. Subjects such as inorganic and organic chemical
composition and leaching of materials are among the
rst to be developed in this direction. The process of
horizontal standardisation calls for a positive attitude of
specialists in dierent elds and an open mind to discuss
its possibilities and limitations.
Hans A. van der Sloot
Energy Research Centre of The Netherlands
Patten, The Netherlands
E-mail address: vandersloot@ecn.nl