The EU waste-law status for a substance or object the holder discards, intends to discard, or is required to discard.
Under the EU Waste Framework Directive, waste status turns on whether the holder discards the object, intends to discard it, or is required to discard it. Once that threshold is crossed, collection, treatment, recovery, and disposal rules become the relevant frame.
This page foregrounds the EU Waste Framework Directive backbone definition while preserving ISO, Australian, and CRMA source layers separately. Waste is not every low-value material or every material that might later be recycled. PPWR context: Regulation (EU) 2025/40 defines packaging, packaging waste, prevention, reuse/refill systems, recyclability, and packaging actor roles for the EU packaging regime. Do not collapse PPWR producer/manufacturer/importer/distributor or market-entry wording into other product, battery, waste, or ELV source meanings. WSR context: Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 defines actor, authority, country, route, shipment, and illegal-shipment terms for movements of waste destined for recovery or disposal. Keep this waste-shipment layer separate from ordinary transport, product-import, customs, and facility-operation meanings.
ISO 14067:2018 - Greenhouse gases — Carbon footprint of products
substances or objects that the holder intends or is required to dispose of
Reference: 3.1.4.9
Directive 2008/98/EC on waste
any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard
Waste Framework Directive backbone definition; preserve separately from battery-specific, product-specific, or jurisdiction-specific definitions.
Reference: Article 3, point 1
Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020
waste, in relation to a product, means waste associated with the product over the life cycle of the product.
Australian federal product-stewardship / waste-export source layer; not a battery-specific definition and not interchangeable with NSW battery-stewardship roles.
Reference: Section 10, Dictionary
Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 establishing a framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials
waste as defined in Article 3, point (1), of Directive 2008/98/EC
The EU Critical Raw Materials Act incorporates this definition by reference to Directive 2008/98/EC Article 3, point 1; the referenced act remains the primary source for the underlying definition.
Reference: Article 2, point 32
Public draft page. EU Waste Framework Directive backbone meaning; related source layers are preserved separately.
Waste is the point where a substance, object, battery, component, or material enters a discard-based legal workflow rather than remaining ordinary product or inventory data.
This term originates in ISO 14067:2018 and/or ISO 14044 LCA methodology. It is used in EU product regulation — particularly under the EU Battery Regulation (PEF method for carbon footprint) and ESPR (environmental footprint) — because both regulations require lifecycle-based quantification of environmental impacts. Practitioners applying these regulations should be familiar with these LCA/PEF concepts to correctly scope, conduct, and verify product-level environmental assessments.
Implementation teams need to record when the object became waste, who held it at that point, which collection or treatment route followed, and whether any later recovery or disposal claim is supported by evidence.
Waste marks the transition from product-life records to end-of-life evidence. The data model should shift from describing the product alone to tracking holder, collection event, treatment route, recovery or disposal outcome, and final destination.