# 19 12 12 EWC code Mixed residues and fines left after a waste site sorts or crushes waste, if not hazardous.

> 19 12 12 EWC code: mixed residues and trommel fines left after sorting or screening waste. When it’s 19 12 11* or 19 12 09 instead, and what to write.
> Web page: https://complyonsite.com/tools/ewc-code-finder?code=19-12-12

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- Based on the UK List of Waste, WM3, GOV.UK and SEPA guidance
- Nothing is stored

## Is 19 12 12 hazardous?

No. It’s the non-hazardous half of a pair with 19 12 11*. GOV.UK says you must assess waste from mechanical treatment to find out whether it has hazardous properties: if it does, it’s 19 12 11*. If what’s in it genuinely can’t be found out, it’s 19 12 11* too.

## What goes under 19 12 12?

Mixed waste that comes out of sorting, crushing, compacting or other mechanical treatment at a waste site: the residue a transfer station or MRF can’t sort any further, and fines from screening.

Materials sorted into a single stream take their own code, such as 19 12 02 for ferrous metal or [19 12 04](https://complyonsite.com/tools/ewc-code-finder?code=19-12-04) for plastic. GOV.UK says those codes are only for single streams: a load with more than one type of waste in it is mixed, so it’s 19 12 12 or 19 12 11*. [Chapter 19 codes](https://complyonsite.com/tools/ewc-code-finder?chapter=19)

## Are trommel fines 19 12 12, 19 12 11* or 19 12 09?

GOV.UK names trommel fines from screening construction and demolition waste as a mixed waste from mechanical treatment. They usually hold soil, aggregate, plastic, wood and metal. So they’re 19 12 12, or 19 12 11* if an assessment finds them hazardous.

- **19 12 09**: Only for natural minerals such as sand and stone. GOV.UK says it mustn’t include bricks, concrete, tiles or ash.
- **17 05 04**: Not for fines. SEPA says fines aren’t soil.

Write what the fines came from on the note, such as “fines from processing mixed C&D waste”. SEPA says “fines” on its own isn’t enough.

### Sources

- [Wastes from mechanical treatment of waste: how to classify (GOV.UK)](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wastes-from-mechanical-treatment-of-waste-how-to-classify)
- [List of Waste (legislation.gov.uk)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2000/532/annex)
- [WM3 waste classification guidance (Environment Agency, NRW, SEPA)](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6152d0b78fa8f5610b9c222b/Waste_classification_technical_guidance_WM3.pdf)
- [Guidance on using the EWC to code waste (SEPA, November 2015)](https://www.sepa.org.uk/media/163421/ewc_guidance.pdf)

The GOV.UK guide is England’s. SEPA’s 2015 guide, for Scotland, also allows 19 12 09 for fines from wholly inert bricks, tiles and concrete.