Waste Ordinance: the 10 fractions in practice
How companies sort their waste according to common rules
Introduction
Companies have long had to sort their production waste at source. The Waste Order (then Executive Order no. 2159/2020) gave them a deadline of 31 December 2022, and since 1 January 2023 it has been a concrete requirement: all household-type waste at the workplace — the waste that resembles what we produce at home, such as food scraps, paper and packaging — must be sorted into 10 fractions, in line with private households. Today the requirement is in § 63(2) — in Executive Order no. 1749/2024 and from 8 November 2026 in Executive Order no. 810/2026, which has the same sections.
The 10 fractions
| Fraction | Typical content |
|---|---|
| Food waste | Food waste and organic kitchen waste |
| Paper | Newspapers, Office Paper, Magazines |
| Pap | Cardboard boxes and paper plates |
| Glass | Bottles and glass packaging |
| Metal | Cans and metal packaging |
| Plastic | Plastic packaging and bottles |
| Food and beverage cartons | Milk and juice cartons |
| Hazardous waste | Chemicals, batteries, electronics and similar |
| Textile waste | Used clothing and textiles |
| Residual waste | What doesn't fit in the other fractions |
Main rule: separate sorting
The starting point in the waste regulation is that each fraction must be kept separate in its own container. So as a general rule you cannot mix e.g. metal and plastic in the same bucket even if both will later be recycled—the separation ensures that the materials remain clean enough for recycling to actually succeed.
Why are the requirements tightened?
The purpose is to get more waste recycled and less burned or deposited. The cleaner a fraction is kept — that is the less it is mixed with other materials — the easier and cheaper it is to convert into new raw materials. The rules should therefore be seen as an implementation of the waste hierarchy: preventing waste is best but when waste arises it should lose as little value as possible along the way.
How to set up the sorting
- 01Map which of the 10 fractions actually arise at your site and in what quantities
- 02Place containers close to where waste arises so it's easy to do the right thing
- 03Use clear and consistent signage, preferably with both text and symbols
- 04Designate a responsible person who follows up on whether sorting works in everyday life.
- 05Remember hazardous waste and electronics, which often require special storage and disposal
What about construction waste and production waste?
The 10 fractions apply to household-type waste — canteen waste, office paper and the like. Construction and demolition waste has its own requirements in section 66 of the Waste Order: hazardous waste, PCB, asbestos and sealed glazing units must always be separated out, and the rest is sorted on site into the recyclable fractions and at least 13 construction fractions — natural stone, unglazed brick and tile, concrete, mixtures of natural stone, brick and concrete, iron and metal, fibre gypsum, ordinary gypsum, stone wool, glass wool, soil, asphalt, mixtures of concrete and asphalt, and sanitary ware, tiles and glazed tile. If the work produces no more than 1 tonne of waste in total, sorting into fractions may be skipped, and gypsum must be stored in covered containers. If at least 250 m² of floor area is removed, the demolition must be carried out as selective demolition (Executive Order no. 496/2024 § 9). A building site therefore has to deal with both sets of rules: the construction fractions for the construction waste itself and the 10 fractions for the waste from the site hut and canteen.
Municipality's role and control
The municipalities designate and supervise how companies in their area handle waste and have the opportunity to respond if a company consistently fails to meet sorting requirements. Many municipalities also offer guidance and practical instructions on how individual fractions should be collected and where they should be delivered, which makes it easier for smaller businesses in particular to find out which arrangements apply locally.
A company can typically choose between using the municipality's own collection scheme or entering into an agreement with a private waste company as long as the sorting meets the same requirements for separate fractions. Regardless of solution it is the company's own responsibility to ensure that waste is actually sorted correctly before it leaves the workplace — responsibility does not shift to the waste company just because waste is picked up by an external party.
For the individual employee the regulations mean that waste sorting is no longer a voluntary good habit but a legally mandated part of the working day. Knowing your 10 fractions and where they go is therefore a concrete skill in green work — and a skill that appears across industries regardless of whether you work in construction transport cleaning or in an office.