What are the new waste recovery classes 38.21, 38.22 and 38.23?

Three new classes were created for waste recovery in NACE Rev. 2.1: class 38.21, materials recovery; class 38.22, energy recovery; and class 38.23, other waste recovery. Paragraph 153 states the creations, and paragraph 152 states the new groups that hold them: group 38.2, waste recovery, and group 38.3, waste disposal without recovery. The classes are statistical headings. They do not determine a code for a specific reader.

What are the new groups?

Paragraph 152 states the restructuring of groups 38.2, waste treatment and disposal, and 38.3, materials recovery, in NACE Rev. 2, into new groups 38.2, waste recovery, and 38.3, waste disposal without recovery, in NACE Rev. 2.1. The restructuring separates recovery from disposal at group level, so that the two kinds of waste work are grouped apart from the start. The old group titles combined treatment with disposal, and recovery with materials, in a way that mixed the two purposes. The new group titles state the purposes separately: recovery in one group, and disposal without recovery in the other. The notes for the groups and classes state the contents in full, and section 4 does not reproduce them. This guide does not state inclusion lists that it has not verified from the notes.

The group restructuring is a change in the grouping principle for the division, not only a change in titles. Division 38 covers waste collection, recovery and disposal activities, and the notes for the division state that the output of the waste or sewage treatment process can either be disposed of or become an input into other production processes, and that secondary raw materials are materials and products which can be used as raw materials by simple reuse, or via recycling and recovery of waste. The new groups give that distinction a structural form: recovery work, which produces an input for another process, sits apart from disposal work, which does not. The distinction is statistical, and it carries no statement about waste regulation, permits or environmental outcomes, which are governed by other instruments.

What are the three new classes?

Paragraph 153 names the three classes with their titles. Class 38.21 is materials recovery. Class 38.22 is energy recovery. Class 38.23 is other waste recovery. The titles divide recovery by the kind of recovery: materials recovered for reuse as raw materials, energy recovered from waste, and other recovery that does not fall in the first two classes. The notes for the classes state the contents, including the treatment of specific processes, in general terms. Cross references printed elsewhere in the manual point to the classes for particular processes: the note for sewerage, for example, points to aerobic treatment such as composting to class 38.21, and to incineration with energy recovery to class 38.22, and the note for class 35.11 points to pretreatment of waste for energy recovery to class 38.22. The cross references show the classes in use, but they do not replace the notes for the classes themselves.

The residual class, 38.23, other waste recovery, holds the recovery work that does not belong in the materials or energy classes, after those classes have been applied. The residual character must be read in the same way as the residual classes elsewhere in the classification: the specific classes are applied first, and the residual class applies to what remains. The note for the residual class states its inclusions and exclusions, and it must be read with the notes for the two specific classes, before the recovery grouping is described in general terms. The correspondence table records how the old groups 38.2 and 38.3 relate to the new groups and classes, and it must be read with the notes.

How are the new groups and classes laid out?

| Group | Classes | Title pattern |

|---|---|---|

| 38.2, waste recovery | 38.21, 38.22, 38.23 | Materials recovery, energy recovery, other waste recovery |

| 38.3, waste disposal without recovery | Classes in the detailed structure | Disposal without recovery |

The table follows paragraphs 152 and 153. The first row lists the three new classes, because paragraph 153 names them. The second row does not list classes, because section 4 does not name the classes in the disposal group in the passages summarised here, and the detailed structure lists them. The table states the group level change and the class level change together, so that a reader does not mistake the three new classes for the whole restructuring. The notes and the correspondence table supply the full account.

What does a new class not decide?

A new class is a new heading in the published classification. No decision about a specific unit follows, and no guarantee follows that an activity previously held in an old class now belongs in the new class. For the relation to the old classes that previously held the work, read the correspondence table, and for what the new class includes and excludes, read its explanatory note. The classification is statistical only. The institute or register that holds the record confirms a unit’s entry, while questions of tax, licensing, social security, collective agreements and funding eligibility belong to other bodies.

Where is a new class confirmed?

The check for a new class runs in three steps. First, the section 4 summary in the manual for the creation as adopted. Second, the explanatory note for the class, for inclusions and exclusions. The third check is the institute or register for the entry actually held. The first step is supplied here, and the other two are pointed to.

Separate recovery from disposal at group level, separate materials, energy and other recovery at class level, and confirm the entry with the institute or register that holds it.