Waste ecocompatibility in storage and reuse scenarios: global methodology and detailed presentation of the impact study on the recipient environments

In 1995, the ADEME launched a research program called “Waste Ecocompatibility” in order to define a reliable methodology for measuring the impact of waste in storage or reuse scenarios. The French concept of “Ecocompatibility” is defined as the situation where the pollutant flux from waste disposed of or used in specified conditions is compatible with the environmental acceptance of the receiving environments. The chief feature of this definition is to integrate the evaluation of the three following terms: pollutants emission from the waste, transport of the pollutants from the waste to the receptor cells and the environmental acceptance of the receiving environments. The “Waste Ecocompatibility” program consisted of a literature survey and an experimental part. The literature study aimed to determine factors and waste characteristics to be considered for a reliable ecocompatility assessment, to provide an overview of the available tools for measuring those factors and characteristics and to propose a first approach of the methodology. In the framework of the experimental program, this approach was then applied to three theoretical scenarios to validate the laboratory tools (comparative study of laboratory and field results) and to calibrate the global methodology. This paper deals with the results of the experimental program concerning the impact study on receiving environments: impact on plants and microorganisms living in soil, impacts on soil fauna and aquatic fauna. In other papers we intend to present the operational methodology for the assessment of waste ecocompatibility. It includes bio-assays at laboratory scale (microcosms), pilot scale (mesocosms) and in situ experiments (experimental prairie). To limit the use of in situ experiments other research works are necessary to validate bio-assays at laboratory or pilot scale.