Excavation material
Check before removal whether the soil belongs to recovery or to landfill, and of which type.
Swiss Waste Ordinance (VVEA)
Determining the 9 elements of the Waste Ordinance on site, by X-ray fluorescence
The Swiss Ordinance on the Avoidance and Disposal of Waste sets total-content limit values for one and the same set of nine elements: antimony, arsenic, lead, cadmium, chromium, copper, nickel, mercury and zinc. These nine decide the fate of excavation material, of a floor covering taken up, or of a batch of construction waste.
Portable XRF reads all nine on site, in seconds per point — enough to sort before sending anything to the laboratory.
9
Elements concerned
2
Reference annexes
100%
Servicing carried out in Switzerland
Excavation and drilling material
Waste Ordinance, Annex 3 no. 2 — limit values as total contents, mg/kg of dry matter.
| Antimony (Sb) | 15 |
|---|---|
| Arsenic (As) | 15 |
| Lead (Pb) | 250 |
| Cadmium (Cd) | 5 |
| Total chromium (Cr) | 250 |
| Chromium (VI) | 0.05 |
| Copper (Cu) | 250 |
| Nickel (Ni) | 250 |
| Mercury (Hg) | 1 |
| Zinc (Zn) | 500 |
Admission to a type B landfill
Waste Ordinance, Annex 5 no. 2.3 — limit values as total contents, mg/kg of dry matter. The threshold is more permissive than in Annex 3, but covers the same elements.
| Antimony (Sb) | 30 |
|---|---|
| Arsenic (As) | 30 |
| Lead (Pb) | 500 |
| Cadmium (Cd) | 10 |
| Total chromium (Cr) | 500 |
| Chromium (VI) | 0.1 |
| Copper (Cu) | 500 |
| Nickel (Ni) | 500 |
| Mercury (Hg) | 2 |
| Zinc (Zn) | 1,000 |
Scope of the measurement
A sorting tool that keeps the laboratory for the cases that matter
X-ray fluorescence measures total contents — precisely the quantity on which the Waste Ordinance sets its limits. On a site, it separates in a day the batches that are clearly compliant from those that are not, and reserves accredited analysis for the cases that warrant it.
Two caveats, better stated up front:
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Chromium (VI) is out of reach for XRF: the technique sees total chromium, not its oxidation state. That limit value belongs to wet chemistry.
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At 5 mg/kg for cadmium and 1 mg/kg for mercury, you are working at the detection limit of a handheld instrument on a mineral matrix. The result guides, it does not decide.
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The other seven elements are measured comfortably above the Annex 3 thresholds.
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Usable quantification presupposes a calibration matched to the matrix and a documented validation.
Sampling
Our sampling equipment
Preparation decides what the result is worth
Construction material is heterogeneous by nature: crushed concrete, excavated soil, a floor covering taken up, the fine fraction of mechanical sorting. Two measurement points taken at random from the same heap can differ by an order of magnitude.
The protocol therefore counts as much as the instrument: sampling plan, size reduction, drying, homogenisation, pressing into a cell. We supply the sampling and preparation tools, and the training that goes with them.
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Calibrated in Switzerland
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Repaired in Switzerland
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Custom adjustments
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Local support
A site to sort before disposal?
We will show you the measurement on your own materials, and what it lets you decide on site.