UN certification is a certificate that a container must have in order to be used to carry hazardous material by road, train, plane or boat. The certificate is issued by NET in Norway which stands for Norwegian Packaging Testing. The reason the containers must be UN certified is to prevent harm to humans or animals, by ensuring that the containers have a certain quality. UN certifications are divided into liquid and solid hazardous material, and then the containers are certified in terms of weight or volume with hazardous material that they can safely accommodate. In addition, the UN certification is divided into the height the containers are approved to fall from.
It is the company's responsibility to ensure that the hazardous waste containers the company uses are sufficiently approved for the material or waste it holds.
Tip 1: What classification of hazardous material is your product/waste?
Since there are many classifications to take into account when choosing a container for hazardous material, it is important that you research what container you need for your material.
Dangerous material is divided into 9 categories. Explosives, gas, flammable liquid, flammable solids, oxidiser, toxic and infectious agents, radioactive materials, corrosive agents and various. It is important to determine whether the material the container is made of can react with the hazardous material.
The containers are divided into three packaging groups: Packaging group one is the greatest degree of hazardous material (marked X), pack group two has moderate danger (marked Y), and group three has the lowest hazard level (marked Z). The packaging group your company needs depends on which material to be transported.
Tip 2: How should the hazardous material be transported?
Different certification is required for air transport, train transport, boat transport and truck transport. You do not need un-certified container if you are not going to carry the material anywhere. The international certificate of the container states which transport methods the container is approved for. Below is an excerpt from a Norwegian issued UN certificate to a floating hazardous waste container.
"NET issues the certification on described product according to delegated authority from the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency Planning (DSB): Legal regulations for Transportation of Dangerous Goods on road and railway – 06/6950-7/BJRU. NET issues the certification on described product according to delegated authority from the Norwegian Maritime Directorate (NMA) – 200705977-4/5367.1. NET issues the certification on described product according to an agreement between the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority (Civil Aviation Authority) – 01.03.18 – 18/00114-8."
The company must work out how to transport the material, and then buy containers based on this. The certification testing performed often covers several types of transportation.
Tip 3: How to interpret the specific UN Certifications to products
A UN Certification should look like this: 1H2/Y400/S/18/N
The first three digits indicate what type of container it is, what it is made of and lid options for barrels. The container above is thus a barrel made of plastic that has an opening of the same diameter as the container, also called open-head drum.
The next letter indicates which packaging group the container belongs to: X, Y or Z, which is explained in tip no. 1. The next number is either the measure of the number of liters, or the number of kilograms of the dangerous material that the container can hold.
The next field is a number if the container is intended for liquid material, indicating the pressure (kPa) that the container can withstand. In solid material there is an "S" here that stands for "solid" i.e. solid material. The UN code above tells us here that it can hold 400kg of very dangerous material.
So is the year the container was produced, which is especially important as the certification lasts for 5 years. Then, the initials for the country in which the container is manufactured, and then the manufacturer's DOT registration number. We can then see that the UN code above indicates that the container is for solid material, was manufactured in 2018, in Norway. The container in this example is of the type CC container from Mezonic AS.
Tip 4: Which country should you be shipping hazardous material to/from?
In theory, there are different requirements and standards from country to country, but in general North America and Northern Europe have the same standard. If your company is to receive hazardous material from a country other than that under North America and Northern Europe, it is recommended that you insert the rules and standards of the sender country for hazardous waste containers. In Norway there are «Regulations on the recycling and treatment of waste (waste regulations) Chapter 11. Hazardous waste» which regulates, among other things, transport, storage, handling, etc. of hazardous material.
Thus, it is important that companies get into where the material will be sent, so that all documentation is in place upon arrival in the recipient country.
Tip 5: UN Certification lasts for 5 years at a time
The containers are certified for 5 years at a time, against the fact that no changes have been made to the container, or the container has been damaged. Excerpts from a NET issued UN certificate for solid hazardous waste container.
"The certificate is valid for a maximum of five years, provided no modifications have been made to the packaging design, materials, dimensions, closure system or manner of construction."
Containers can be re-certified for another 5 years after the old certificate has expired if the containers are still in good condition. The containers can thus be used for several years in case of good treatment, which can reduce the cost of a business.
The CC container of Mezonic AS is one of the world's highest UN certified plastic containers.
The containers are made of the raw material Hostal ACP 5331H. The fabric is stable
and is approved to carry almost any type of hazardous material. Furthermore, CC containers are approved for all four transport options mentioned in tip 2. Through the NET UN certification, CC containers are approved to be shipped to all countries in Europe and North America.
Get in touch if you want to hear more about CC containersand what they can do for your business.
