Building waste

For renovation or new construction projects, you must use the municipality’s waste scheme for building waste.

The municipality must receive your notification of building and construction waste at least 2 weeks before you start the renovation or demolition in the following cases:

• Your building project creates more than a tonne of waste.
• The building project includes the replacement of double glazing which may have been manufactured between 1950 and 1977.

You should be aware that there may be hazardous materials in building waste. The hazardous materials can harm you, your loved ones and the environment.

Before you start, it is mandatory to do a screening for materials containing problematic substances, for instance asbestos, PCBs, heavy metals, PAHs and SCCPs.

Based on the results of the screening and chemical analyses, a map of the construction materials containing problematic substances must be made. The screening report and the map of problematic substances must be included in the notification to the municipality.

In the period 1950-1977, PCBs were used in building materials such as sealants and in double glazing. PCBs are an environmental toxin and their use has been banned in new buildings and in renovation projects since 1977.

PCBs in building materials can give off fumes indoors and thus affect people in the building. There is no danger of acute damage to health, but living for many years in a building with PCBs can be harmful. Long-term exposure to PCBs can disrupt hormones and cause cancer.

Be aware that other problematic substances have been used in building materials as well.

• Environmental Protection Act (in Danish)

You can find the rules for municipal waste management in the ‘Executive Order on Waste’:

• Executive Order on Waste (in Danish)

You can find the municipality’s waste regulations on the website of the Danish Environmental Protection Agency:

• Municipal waste regulations (in Danish)

• The Danish Environmental Protection Agency