Permits & registration
What is a by-product?
A by-product is material arising from a process that was not the primary aim of that process but that is not waste, because it meets defined tests about certainty of use and lawfulness.
The distinction from waste is about intention and certainty. Material that will certainly be used, without further processing beyond normal industrial practice, and lawfully, may never be waste at all.
Getting it wrong is expensive in both directions. Treating waste as a by-product means operating without the controls; treating a by-product as waste means paying for controls that were never required.
It differs from end of waste in that a by-product was never waste, whereas end of waste describes material ceasing to be waste after recovery. The practical consequences are similar; the test is not.
What goes wrong in practice
- Claimed for material whose use is hoped for rather than certain.
- Confused with end of waste, applying the wrong test.
- No documentation of the basis for the assessment, leaving nothing to defend it.