15th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INDUSTRIAL PACKAGING

VANCOUVER, CANADA, JUNE 4, 2015, SESSION II

GLOBAL RULES GOVERNING EMPTY CONTAINER DISPOSITION

Lawrence W. Bierlein, ICCR Secretariat

There was a time before the 1980s when industrial container emptying and empty

container disposition was not a major concern for international, national, or regional

governments. It is a very different story today, in all parts of the world.

Transport safety. A large proportion of industrial packaging is used for the transport of

dangerous goods. This includes steel and plastic drums and pails, as well as larger packaging

such as Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs).

As all of you know, the United Nations Committee of Experts developed Model

Regulations on the transport of dangerous goods. Under provision 4.1.1.11 of the UN Model

Regulations, “Empty packaging, including IBCs and large packagings, that have contained a

dangerous substance shall be treated in the same manner as is required by these Regulations for a

filled packaging, unless adequate measures have been taken to nullify any hazard.” In other

words, the proper container must be used for the residue, it must be closed, and all marks and

labels for the residue have to be legible.

The UN Regulations are adopted in turn by the International Maritime Organization. In

addition, within Europe regional organizations such as ADR, RID, and ADN adapt the UN

provisions. The same is true of Canada, the United States, Mexico, and a host of other countries

throughout the world including South Africa, China, Japan, India, Australia. Many countries that

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do not develop their own dangerous goods regulations for land transport adopt the International

Maritime Dangerous Goods Code. The Maritime Code also is critical in port areas.

In addition to the codes within contracting European countries, many other nations and

Free Trade Agreements incorporate the European ADR requirements as their own. Brazil and

other South American countries would be an example of those following the European standards,

including the ADR rules on empty packaging.. Other countries may follow older editions of the

UN, but the provision on empty packaging is well established and is the same throughout the

world.

The UN provision provides an exception when adequate measures are taken to nullify

any hazard. Unless an industrial container has been cleaned of contents and purged of vapors, or

has been filled with a non-dangerous substance, all governments I know maintain at least some

regulation of empty containers.

For example, Australia, India, and others still require a shipping paper noting the words

“Empty Uncleaned,” or “Last Contained,” next to the shipping description.

In Canada, in order to transport industrial containers for reconditioning, a company must

be issued a Permit of Equivalent Safety. This allows a more general description of

miscellaneous residues in emptied containers.

Within Europe under ADR, provision is made to avoid vehicle placarding and to give a

general statement on shipping papers for emptied packaging but the units remain regulated.

Within the United States, if an industrial drum is consigned for reconditioning or reuse, it

does not need vehicle placarding or a shipping document. Unfortunately shipping paper and

placarding requirements still apply for emptied IBCs.

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In my research of the dangerous goods codes in all countries, I did not find any code that

completely excludes an empty container from regulation.

Hazard communication. The UN has a system of marks and labels for dangerous goods

packages. These must remain in place and legible when the container has been emptied.

In addition, the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of

Chemicals (GHS), has developed new pictograms to appear on any hazardous industrial

packaging coming into or remaining within the workplace. GHS as its name implies, is global in

scope, and it is coming to all countries and to all regulatory agencies within all countries.

Therefore, although an industrial packaging may be emptied, it will continue to retain its

transport warning labels and marks and the GHS pictograms because of the residue.

The message is that no emptied industrial packaging will be invisible. Everyone will see

what the hazards of the residue are, and should be wary of accepting that packaging unless they

are technically equipped to do so, like a container reconditioner.

Packaging waste. Germany led the world with its “Green Dot” program to identify

packaging for disposal and to assign responsibility for it. In the past few years, the United

Kingdom has put an aggressive program in place as well. The UK legislation describes

“packaging” as “All products, made of any material of any nature, to be used for the

containment, protection, handling, delivery and presentation of goods from raw material to

processed goods from the producer to the user or the consumer, including non-returnable items.”

While it is true that most of the packaging waste initiatives are aimed at consumer

packaging, by no means all of these laws draw a distinction between consumer and industrial

packaging. For example, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Hungary are

reported to impose waste packaging fees in all types of packaging, including transport

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packaging. Within Central and Eastern Europe, “Extended Producer Liability” has grown in

popularity,

Asia also has been a very active area for regulatory activity, coming up with some of the

most complex packaging design requirements. At the Asian Packaging Federation meeting in

2008, the packaging associations of 14 countries adopted Guidelines for Asian Environmental

Packaging Standards. These included China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam,

Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. All

signed up to the new packaging standards based on the Japanese JIS standards. I have read about

27 key packaging environmental laws from China and Japan alone.

In Japan, the law is reported to provide a framework for recycling packaging materials,

but the underlying intention of the law is to promote the use of packaging and containers that are

reusable.

Such intense focus on emptied packaging, even though primarily concerning consumer

packaging, provides this industry with an opportunity to foster the reusability of industrial

packagings.

Pesticide containers. The World Health Organization and national governments have

established container management schemes to avoid the uncontrolled discard of emptied

pesticide containers and to assure the proper collection and cleaning of them. The dangers of

emptied pesticide containers are well known and no unidentified poison drum should be

accessible to any person unless they are qualified to handle the material.

ICCR Code of Operating Practices. This Confederation has developed a code of

operating practices that address the need for thorough emptying of industrial containers, the

shipment of them with all closures and warning labels intact, and the proper cleaning of them

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before offering them to the scrap industry at the end of their useful life. Copies of this Code

should be available at this International Conference.

Direct scrapping of crushing of industrial containers. In my view, the industrial container

business has the obligation to assist in avoiding premature scrapping of industrial packaging. An

uncleaned container, once crushed or shredded, is no longer a container. It no longer meets the

transport regulations to be moved to a scrap yard or mill. By definition it violates the law in all

countries. It also has lost the warnings essential for the safety of employees at those facilities,

and protection of the environment at those facilities.

Conclusion. No longer is the disposition of an emptied industrial packaging, particularly

one that formerly contained dangerous goods, an invisible or anonymous practice. In all parts of

the world environmental, transport safety, occupational safety, and public safety agencies have

taken action, or actions are planned for more restrictions on emptied industrial packaging. Only

through groups such as ICCR, with an official seat at the UN and active on multiple continents,

can we advocate for common sense rules that foster reuse, and preclude premature scrapping.

Lawrence W. BierleinAttorney at Lawlarry@hazmat-lawyer.comWashington, DC, USA(202) 625-8355

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