Chemical Testing

Hazardous chemicals can be hidden all around us, from the lead-based paint in our built environments to the contaminated soil under our feet. Envirochem’s accredited chemical testing services ensure you know exactly what chemicals you are dealing with so that you can manage the situation in the right way. By identifying the type and extent of your risk, we support you in meeting your duty of care when it comes to waste regulations and fulfilling your responsibilities to people and the environment.

Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) Testing

If you’re disposing of waste that contains potentially hazardous contaminants, you have a legal requirement to confirm how it will behave in landfill. Envirochem ensures you meet this requirement through our Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) testing, which provides landfill sites with certificated evidence of WAC test results.

Conducted in our accredited laboratory, WAC testing can be carried out whether or not waste has already been defined according to the Waste Classification Technical Guidance WM3. Classified waste can be tested under the inert WAC suite, while analysis of unclassified waste can be accelerated through the full WAC test offering, which incorporates both the necessary classification and WAC testing into a single report.

For more information on the testing process, contact lab@envirochem.co.uk.

Soil Analysis

Whether you are looking to determine the chemical make-up of a particular soil or its suitability for a specific purpose, our testing and analysis service provides you with the insights needed to take your next step.

Topsoil & Subsoil analysis

In line with relevant British Standards, Envirochem can analyse soil quality to confirm use as topsoil (BS3882) or subsoil (BS8601). Contamination testing can also ensure no other contaminants are present.

Classification testing

In accordance with Waste Classification Technical Guidance WM3, Envirochem can produce a HazWasteOnline (HWO) report format to classify soils according to the relevant European Waste Catalogue (EWC) code, providing a hazardous/non-hazardous determination based on the data gathered during analysis.

Additional testing options include:

Anions
Loss on Ignition (LOI)
Metals
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
pH
Total Nitrogen (TN)
Total Organic Carbon (TOC)
Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPHs)

Water testing

When the nature of water is unknown, so is the risk it presents. Envirochem’s suite of tests allow for analysis of environmental, process and waste waters to clarify their chemical make-up.

Through analysis in our accredited laboratory, we can identify the type and concentrations of possible contaminants. These findings can point to potential health and environmental risks, and they can be cross-referenced against discharge consents, legal thresholds and expected measures to highlight where there are possible contraventions or weaknesses in water-treatment systems.

Typical analytes include:

Ammonia
Anions
Chlorine
Cyanides
Chemical & biological oxygen demand (COD & BOD)
Dissolved & total organic carbon (DOC & TOC)
Metals
Microbiological tests
Total nitrogen (TN)
Petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs)
Phenols
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
pH
Settleable solids
Suspended solids

Built Environment

Hazardous chemicals and substances can be found throughout the built environment, whether integrated within materials being sent to waste or embedded in the fabric of buildings themselves. Envirochem has the lab capabilities to test and identify these risks so you can get them under control as quickly and effectively as possible.

Wood waste

As a member laboratory of the Wood Recyclers Association (WRA), Envirochem can offer the WRA02 testing suite for waste wood. This allows wood to be classified as hazardous or non-hazardous under WM3 and in line with RPS 291 guidance from the Environment Agency (EA). For waste wood items on the WRA’s ‘amber’ list, Envirochem can submit analytical results to the WRA’s HWO portal so that a submission report is issued for the sample in compliance with EA requirements.

Paint

Envirochem can rapidly analyse paint for the presence of lead and other heavy metals of concern, such as arsenic, chromium or zinc. Samples can either be sent to our lab or one of our analysts can attend site and incorporate the test results within a comprehensive report.

Coal Tar

Containing a variety of complex hydrocarbon compounds, some of which have carcinogenic properties, coal tar can be a considerable health hazard. Envirochem can determine the presence of coal tar in asphalt waste samples by testing for a suite of organic compounds, such as Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPHs) and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) including Benzo(a)pyrene, and also through interpretation of chromatogram analysis.

Additional areas of testing include:

Anthrax or gypsum in plaster
Asbestos
CFCs & HCFCs in insulation foam
Legionella testing

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