Wastes Characterisation from Foundry Activities on European Level

This work presents The results of the eco toxicological characterisation of 22 defined wastes from steel foundry activities. The wastes have been selected from three processes, steel mill (smelting). sand casting and cleaning and finishing of steel products,with the common characteristics of represent an important industrial activity in the area and generated the wastes considered in this study. The eco toxicological characterisation obtained applying the Spanish regulations on hazardous waste is compared to the hazardous attributions considered by the European Union in order to characterise a waste as hazardous (non hazardous). The results allow to conclude that a acceptable concordance between both methodologies is reached and remark the need to split the broad generic types of wastes given by the Spanish regulation (Eco toxic / non eco toxic) into clearly identifiable specific types of waste