EWC Code
Absorbents, filter materials, wiping cloths and protective clothing
EUR-Lex Commission Decision 2000/532/EC — Official Journal L 226, 06/09/2000Have a 15 02 stream? See the dossier that replaces the feasibility study.
See the validation dossier1.2 million tonnes/year EU-wide · €180M recovered materials market
Primary buyers include Hazardous waste treatment and Industrial laundry services.
Get your full stream analysisAnnual Volume
1.2 million tonnes/year EU-wide
Valorisation Range
€180M recovered materials market
Primary Route
Industrial laundering & reuse
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Get contacts for EWC 15 02EWC 15 02 covers absorbents, filter materials (including oil filters not otherwise specified), wiping cloths and protective clothing contaminated with dangerous substances. Non-hazardous variants arise when contamination does not confer hazard properties; hazardous mirror entries apply when contaminated with substances classified HP1–HP14.
Industrial wipes, filter cloths, respirator filters, chemical-resistant gloves, contaminated overalls and oil-absorbent booms fall within this sub-chapter. Classification requires assessment of contaminant identity and concentration against threshold limit values under Commission Regulation 1357/2014.
Generators must maintain contaminant records to substantiate non-hazardous classification. Mixed consignments containing both hazardous and non-hazardous absorbents default to hazardous classification for the batch. Separate collection streams are best practice to preserve non-hazardous status.
Typical Generators
Established valorisation pathways for EWC 15 02, ranked by economic value and market depth. Industrial laundering & reuse is the primary route.
Contract laundry operators wash and re-certify industrial wipes and protective garments for re-issue. Reduces virgin textile demand; laundry wash water treated as contaminated effluent.
Contaminated wipes and filter media with calorific value ≥12 MJ/kg processed into solid recovered fuel. Co-fired in cement kilns or power stations under IED permit conditions.
Heavily contaminated materials not suitable for laundering or energy recovery disposed at permitted hazardous landfill under Landfill Directive 1999/31/EC leachate control conditions.
These are the established routes for EWC 15 02. Which one your stream qualifies for depends on its composition, volume and region.
See how this gets validatedPrimary & secondary off-takers
Accepts contaminated absorbents for approved treatment or incineration
Contract cleaning and re-certification of reusable industrial wipes
Internal reuse of oil-contaminated absorbents in waste oil recovery circuits
Processing of lightly contaminated filter media for fibre recovery
Source: NACE Rev.2 — Eurostat, 2008
Key legislative frameworks governing EWC 15 02 classification, transport, and treatment.
Absorbents contaminated with substances meeting HP14 (ecotoxic) criteria classified hazardous. Mirror entry 15 02 02* applies. Non-hazardous 15 02 03 applies when contaminant concentrations fall below threshold limits per Regulation 1357/2014.
Protective clothing containing SVHCs (substances of very high concern) subject to SVHC communication requirements. Recyclers must receive SVHC information from waste holders to assess suitability for re-processing.
Energy recovery of contaminated absorbents in cement kilns or dedicated incinerators subject to IED Chapter IV co-incineration emission limits. Dioxin monitoring required for halogenated contaminants.
Your absorbents, filter materials, wiping cloths and protective clothing stream is assessed against chemistry, waste classification and proven recovery routes — graded results in your browser in seconds. No call, no commitment.
Recovery tiers only. For numbers that survive a technical review, see the validation dossier.
Sectors that valorise EWC 15 02 as an input material or secondary raw material.
Waste-stream pages and resources connected to EWC 15 02 valorisation.
Explore EU waste flows — Waste Atlas
Visualise 17 years of E-PRTR industrial facility data. See how EWC 15 02 and related waste streams flow across European industries and sectors.
Source: EUR-Lex Commission Decision 2000/532/EC · NACE Rev.2 — Eurostat 2008
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