European waste catalogue

The EWC is a hierarchical list of waste descriptions established by Commission decision 2000/532/EC2. It is divided into twenty main chapters, most of which are industry-based but some of which are based on materials and processes. Each of these has a two digit code between 01 and 20. Chapters have one or more subchapters (with four figure codes, the first two of which are the two digits of the chapter). Within these there are codes for individual wastes each of which is assigned a six figure code. Hazardous wastes are signified by entries where the code is followed by an asterisk.