In The Netherlands policy and legislation has been developed in order to enforce an environmental sound usage of building materials, including the use in construction of recycled materials and mineral waste materials. The aim of this policy is both to stimulate the usage of waste materials and to protect the soil and the surface water from pollution due to leaching of constituents. Therefore a Building Materials Decree (BMD) has been introduced.
Because of the complex nature of the leaching phenomena, this decree is accompanied by a set of standards and a certification scheme for laboratories performing the quality control testing. In order to get a permit for the application of a certain material; the owner of this material has to prove the compliance with the standards. Because the procedure for prove of compliance is also complex, one needs to have insight in the underlying principles and theory of leaching, as well as an overview of the system in order to make the right choices.
In this course the various steps in the procedure will be introduced and explained in general terms. This goes from questions of how to get a qualified sample for laboratory testing to how to compare the results from measurements with standards. The parameters needed in the calculations will be highlighted, as well as the importance of choices made in designing the application of a material.
You may click here for the syllabus of this course or find it, together with an Excel calculation spreadsheet in the folder /leaching course/ on this CD-rom.