Industrial Waste Types

Adhesive, Resin and Sealant Waste Disposal

Packaging Reuse collects surplus, expired and part-cured adhesive, resin and sealant from production sites across the UK, and classifies each stream correctly instead of defaulting the whole lot to hazardous. Almost every waste code for this material comes as a hazardous and a non-hazardous pair, so the classification decides your price as much as your paperwork. We test the material, code it, and take the containers it arrives in too.

Send us the product data sheets and the state the material is in, and our environmental chemist will confirm the code and the route before anyone books a vehicle. Call 0161 848 0976 or get in touch.

What adhesive and sealant waste do we collect?

We take the bonding and sealing material a production line leaves behind, plus the containers it came in:

Adhesives and glue: solvent-borne and contact grades, water-based PVA and EVA dispersions, hot melt purgings, dip-tray residue and contaminated wipes. Spray canisters are handled separately as aerosols.
Sealants and cartridges: silicone, MS polymer, polyurethane and acrylic sealants, cured skins, nozzle residue and boxed stock past its shelf life.
Two-pack resins and hardeners: polyester, polyurethane, epoxy and phenolic resins, MEKP catalysts and isocyanate hardeners.
Bulk and expired stock: unused adhesive and sealant in its original drums and IBCs.
Contaminated packaging: the drums, cartridges and IBCs the product leaves behind, reconditioned or disposed of with the waste.

Send a photo of the bay and the data sheets, and we will tell you what each stream is and what it will cost.

How we handle your adhesive and sealant waste

We supply containment matched to the material and keep your uncured stock away from part-mixed, because segregation at source decides most of the outcome. We collect across the UK on scheduled rounds or one-off clearances for cleandown, line changeover and shutdown, and our chemist classifies the material before it moves, so the waste transfer or consignment note matches what is in the load. Anything hazardous goes through our own hazardous waste disposal service. Because our permitted Trafford Park site has reconditioned drums and IBCs since the early 1980s and we have held ISO 9001 since 2015, we take the material and its containers as one job.

Call 0161 848 0976 for a quote against your data sheets.

Adhesive and sealant waste questions

Is adhesive waste hazardous?

Whether adhesive waste is hazardous depends on the formulation and how much hazardous substance it holds. Almost every entry for waste adhesives and sealants sits under sub-chapter 08 04 as a mirror pair, one hazardous and one not, and the assessment decides which applies. Water-based PVA, EVA hot melts and fully cured silicone often fall on the non-hazardous side, while solvent-borne formulations usually do not. Our chemist settles it from the safety data sheet and the process.

Can adhesive and sealant waste be recycled?

Adhesive and sealant waste rarely goes back into new adhesive, so recovery works through a hierarchy of routes set by the chemistry. Solvent-borne material goes to fuel blending and cement kiln co-processing, water-based dispersions go to aqueous treatment or energy recovery, and cured skins, cartridges and solid residue go to energy from waste. Uncured two-pack material and isocyanates go to high-temperature incineration. Landfill carries no ban, but tax makes it the most expensive route for this material.

Are empty adhesive containers still hazardous waste?

An adhesive container that held hazardous product and still carries residue counts as hazardous waste, so a drum or cartridge with product wetting it is not empty in the regulatory sense. That decides whether it is contaminated packaging for disposal or a container we can recondition. Either way it travels on the same collection as the material.

What EWC code applies to adhesive waste?

The EWC code for adhesive waste follows the process and the formulation. Most entries sit in the 08 04 mirror pairs for waste adhesives and sealants, with 08 05 01* as the absolute hazardous code for waste isocyanates. Two-pack resins often sit in the 08 01 paint range. Our chemist assigns the code from the data sheet in house.

Can we book regular collections or a one-off clearance?

Packaging Reuse runs both scheduled adhesive collections and one-off clearances. A scheduled round suits a line producing purgings and part-used stock to a steady rhythm, while a one-off clearance suits a cleandown, a changeover or expired stock coming off the racks. Either way the correct note travels with the load, and you can switch between the two as production changes.

Talk to us about your adhesive and sealant waste

Send us the data sheets, the state the material is in and a rough weekly weight, and we will confirm the classification, the route and the cost. We take the containers too, so material and packaging move on one collection. Call 0161 848 0976 or get in touch with Packaging Reuse.