Asbestos at a small building site: approval granted for temporary storage at the contractor’s premises

A few sheets of asbestos cement removed from a roof, a van and a question that often divides contractors and regulatory bodies: can this waste, prior to disposal, can it be temporarily stored without authorisation at the premises of the contractor who carried out the work? The Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (Mase), in its response to an enquiry dated 16 July, said yes, but subject to specific conditions.

The environmental protection association ‘Sportello amianto nazionale’ had raised the issue of the feasibility of the temporary storage of small quantities of asbestos at the premises of the company that carried out the work – a problem typical of multiple small-scale sites where compact asbestos is removed (category 10 of the Register of Operators).

There are three questions: whether the transfer of waste to a producer’s premises constitutes temporary storage or storage subject to authorisation; whether a change of vehicle and carrier constitutes ‘total transhipment’ or a new stage of transport requiring a second form; and how to record loading and unloading in the Rentri.

Mase takes as its starting point the fact that temporary storage is distinct from waste management and answers the first question in the affirmative.

In its reply 192206 of 11 October 2024 to an enquiry from the Province of Cuneo, regarding the operational difficulties involved in managing the temporary storage facility at the site of production of waste arising from maintenance and minor building works, MASE had pointed out that Article 193, paragraph 19 of Legislative Decree 152/2006, by means of the fictio iuris principle, allows such wastefrom maintenance activities and minor building works (including cleaning activities under Law 82/1994) as if it had been produced at the local unit, registered office or domicile of the entity that carried out these activities.