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In all areas of economic life, digital technology now represents an opportunity to improve management processes. Environmental management is no exception. With this in mind, Trackdéchets, the dematerialization of hazardous waste traceability, will soon be deployed.
Dematerializing hazardous waste traceability: the Trackdéchets innovation
The French government is planning to set up a digital platform to dematerialize the traceability of hazardous waste. This is the Trackdéchets platform. No more paper BSDs (Bordereaux de Suivi de Déchets)! Long live the digitized BSD!
To illustrate: in the coming months, when a company produces hazardous waste and calls on a haulier to send it to a treatment center, it will have to register the transport of this waste on the Trackdéchets platform, or make sure that the haulier has done so on its behalf. Similarly, when the waste has been processed by a service provider, the corresponding information must be recorded on the platform. In short, what used to be done on paper will now be done online.
We understand that this digital dematerialization should enable greater efficiency in the administrative management of waste traceability.
But this is not the administration's only objective. The idea is also to ensure that waste is handled by companies with the necessary authorizations to collect, group and/or treat their hazardous waste. Indeed, all service providers must be registered on Trackdéchets before they can collect or treat hazardous waste.
In other words, Trackdéchets aims to secure the entire hazardous waste traceability chain!
The stakes are high: the aim is to avoid the emergence of new "orphan sites", i.e. sites run by pseudo-waste treatment providers who store their customers' hazardous waste without supervision or any prospect of treatment.
What are orphan sites?
Orphan sites are places that are difficult for the authorities to identify, as they are often isolated and undeclared. They store waste, some of it hazardous, until it slowly degrades naturally. Left abandoned, they represent a threat until they are eliminated.
How is this possible? Sometimes, fictitious companies pose as approved waste treatment or recovery organizations, collecting waste from companies that produce it. They then transport the waste to these isolated locations, without ever addressing the issue of its end-of-life.
The existence of these orphan sites therefore raises a real question of public health and environmental preservation. And rehabilitating such sites can be very costly for local authorities!
As a reminder: " In accordance with the principle of extended responsibility, all waste producers are already required to manage their waste or have it managed, in accordance with regulations. They are responsible until final disposal or recovery, even when the waste is transferred to a third party for treatment (article L541-2)".
As a result, waste-producing companies may be called upon to finance the disposal of their waste once again: by paying for the final treatment of their waste stored on orphan sites, even though they thought they had done the right thing by entrusting their waste to companies they believed to be duly authorized to treat it...
New responsibility for companies
A decree will soon be published requiring all waste producers to enter various items of information on this platform. It is expected this autumn. Given the global deployment of dematerialized waste traceability, made possible by Trackdéchets, it will now be easier for the authorities to monitor its proper application.
As a result, within a year, the day-to-day management of hazardous waste in companies will be online. Companies will have to register waste movements on the Trackdéchets platform, as well as exchanges between the various players: producers, transporters, disposal centers.
It should be noted that the Trackdéchets platform will make it possible to meet traceability requirements for certain types of waste: hazardous waste and waste containing persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
At the same time, it will respond to the implementation of one of the flagship measures of Law no. 2020-105 of February 10, 2020 on the fight against waste and the circular economy.
Dematerializing waste traceability at the operational level
Entering this information into the platform will require some internal adjustments. You need to be vigilant about the risk of entering incorrect information, as this data will then be used by the authorities. What's more, as Trackdéchets is not a waste management solution, there is a risk of double data entry if, at the same time, the producing company wants to monitor and steer its waste management while complying with other regulatory requirements that concern it.
Companies that want to avoid this risk without giving up on waste management will be looking for solutions. These solutions must now be provided by waste management software publishers!
Finally, by imposing the dematerialization of waste traceability, the French government is inviting companies to rethink the way they currently manage their waste. The stakes are not only environmental and economic. It's also a "reputational" issue: what company tomorrow would want to see its name associated with that of an orphan site? Finally, it's a question of consistency: at a time when all companies are adopting CSR policies (and we welcome this), it would be a shame if their waste management were not in line with their policies.
Photo credit: Mathias Reding