What Is WAC Testing?

WAC Testing – What is it?

When dealing with soil and waste material, one term that can often come up is WAC testing. But what exactly is WAC testing and why do you need to do it?

Waste Acceptance Criteria Testing (WAC)

WAC testing is a mandatory test. That is used to identify whether the soil or material that is being tested will be accepted by a specific type of landfill site. – inert, non-hazardous, or hazardous. The WAC test includes both solid and leachate testing and provides information about how the soil will behave once it has been deposited in the landfill. This can include the level of contamination that could potentially leach into the surrounding landscape and water. As well as how organic the material is by testing for some key contaminants.

Although a WAC test will specify whether the soil that has been sampled would be accepted by a landfill, it cannot be used to classify the waste itself. The classification of the soil must be completed before the WAC test takes place. Which can be achieved by completing an Initial Waste Classification test.

Different Types of Tests

There are three different types of WAC test that can be completed – inert, hazardous and stable non-reactive hazardous. Alternatively, a full suite WAC test can be performed, including the testing for all three different types of WAC test.

The type of WAC test you will require depends upon the initial classification of the soil. If the soil is classified as non-hazardous, this can then be submitted for an inert WAC test. If the soil passes the inert WAC test requirements, then it can be disposed of in an inert landfill. Alternatively, if it fails the inert WAC test then it will not be accepted at an inert landfill and must be disposed of in a non-hazardous landfill instead.

In a similar manner, if the soil is initially classified as hazardous it should pass a hazardous WAC test in order to be disposed of in a hazardous landfill. If the soil fails the requirements of the hazardous WAC test. Then it will not be able to be disposed of in any landfill and must receive the appropriate treatment and further WAC tests to ensure that it falls within hazardous WAC test leachate limits.

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