Waste characterization procedures
Principles of operational waste management for an economic activity

To ensure a common understanding of the scope of this article, let's take a look at the three fundamental principles set out in Title 4 of Book V of the French Environment Code (CE), dedicated to the issue of waste.

Waste (article L. 541-1-1 of the Environment Code) is "any substance or object, or more generally any movable asset, which the holder discards or intends or is obliged to discard".

A by-product (article L. 541-4-2 of the EC) is "a substance or object resulting from a production process whose primary purpose is not the production of this substance if all of the following conditions are met:

• the subsequent use of the substance or object is certain;...