PRODUCTION AND USE OF MINERAL SUBSTITUTE BUILDING MATERIALS IN THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR HAVE BEEN LEGALLY REVISED AS OF AUGUST 1, 2023
For decades, the disposal of mineral waste on construction sites was regulated based on notifications such as LAGA M20 or guidelines – without a reliable legal basis. Now it is here! On August 1, 2023, the Federal Mantle Ordinance comes into force. Under the "mantle" is primarily a powerful Substitute Building Materials Ordinance (EBV), which brings obligations for comprehensive documentation for manufacturers, distributors, and users of mineral substitute building materials (MEB). Manufacturers must keep all documents related to MEB for five years. Users are required to keep them "permanently" – that is, forever.
In the construction sector, the regulation mainly concerns MEB from construction and demolition waste, soil and dredged material, brick material, and track ballast. They may be used in 17 installation methods – unbound or bound, with or without a protective cover layer – as backfill and infill material, as bedding, frost protection, or base layers, in dams or embankments, etc. Groundwater protection has the highest priority and restricts the permissible installation locations: with specifications for the distance to water extraction facilities, the groundwater table, and protective cover layers above the groundwater. The application possibilities for MEB are regulated in 27 tables, resulting in 459 installation methods! The installation of soil material outside of technical structures is newly regulated in the revised Federal Soil Protection Ordinance.
But in addition to completely new and not-so-new regulations, the Mantle Ordinance primarily brings one thing: legal certainty for the producers and owners of mineral substitute building materials. It also (almost) ends the inconsistent state regulations. And MEB, which are produced and used in accordance with the EBV, have reached the end of their waste status. The LGA supports companies with an approved testing center and a monitoring center, as well as with their §18 experts.
