No separate legislative acts are in force in Poland or the European Union that would regulate waste wood issues directly. Therefore, the analysis presented in this paper concerns legislation applying generally to waste, including waste wood. The issues discussed include terminology, classification and waste wood management. Pursuant to Directive 2008/98/EC, waste is any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard. This definition of waste has remained unchanged in the amended Waste Act in Poland. Waste classification issues are partly resolved in the European Waste Catalogue. A national waste catalogue has been created, in which waste has been divided into 20 groups, depending on the source from which it is generated. Waste wood has been allocated to seven groups, and in particular to group 03. It is worth mentioning that the catalogue does not include a number of wood waste groups, namely OSB, fibreboard, plywood, board cutting waste, as well as products made from them, etc. This leads to problems with the interpretation of regulations concerning, in particular, the combustion of biomass. The priority task in waste management is waste prevention, followed by the preparation of waste for reuse, its recycling and finally other recovery methods, i.e. energy recovery or waste disposal. In view of the above, energy recover, as well as the reprocessing of waste into materials to be used as fuel or for backfilling or landfilling operations, is not a form of recycling. In spite of these assumptions, legislative acts are in force which regulate actions aimed at increasing the use of waste wood for energy recovery purposes. Regulations promoting the use of waste wood for energy recovery purposes can also be found in Polish legislation. The paper points out to the absence of clear and comprehensive legal solutions concerning waste wood management. This situation results in serious difficulties in the rational use of waste wood as one of the main sources of timber. It also leads to problems with estimating the quantity of waste wood and, consequently, prevents the correct assessment of its potential for use by particular sectors of the economy.
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