New Swedish waste legislation 2026: how liability for your masses changes

What has happened

The Swedish Parliament has adopted Government Bill 2025/26:108, which introduces an entirely new Chapter 15 of the Environmental Code. The old chapter has been repealed and replaced. The changes have applied since 1 July 2026. For anyone handling masses on construction projects, four things change: how clean excavation masses are classified, what is required at handover, when responsibility transfers, and who bears the responsibility under the roles set out in the law.

Clean excavation masses can be exempted, but only on site

Under the new Chapter 15, Section 3 of the Environmental Code, non-contaminated excavation masses are exempted from the waste rules, but only if it is established in advance that the material is used in its natural state, for construction or civil-engineering purposes, on the site where the works were carried out, and without harm or nuisance to human health or the environment. Masses hauled off site are not covered by the exemption. They can still be handled as a resource if continued use is secured, documented and appropriate. Otherwise they are waste, even if they are clean.

A check is required at handover

A party responsible for handling waste in a professional operation may only hand over the waste if it has been verified that the receiver has made the required notifications or holds the required permits, approvals or exemptions (Chapter 15, Section 27). If the waste is handed to a professional transporter, both the transporter and the new waste holder must be checked. The check must be carried out to the extent that can reasonably be required, and must be verifiable after the fact. No check is required if the receiver is a municipality or a party engaged by the municipality.

When responsibility transfers

Responsibility transfers to a new waste holder once the check has been carried out and the waste has been handed over. If no check is made, both the consignor and the receiver are responsible (Chapter 15, Section 30). The timing depends on who engaged the transporter: if the sender engages the haulier, responsibility transfers only when the masses have been handed over at the receiver; if the receiver engages the haulier, responsibility transfers already at pickup. If the waste is not accepted, the transporter must return it, and the consignor is obliged to take it back.

Who bears responsibility under the law?

The law does not allocate responsibility by the labels contractor and client, but by the roles waste producer and waste holder. Every producer is responsible for all the waste it produces, and every holder for the waste it has in its possession. A party that only transports on someone else's behalf is exempted (Chapter 15, Sections 5 and 17). On construction projects the Swedish EPA normally considers the contractor to be the waste producer. If the executor lacks control over the masses, the client may instead be considered the producer. The role cannot be contracted away. Always regulate in the contract who classifies, records and reports, and who engages the transporter.

Checklist

• A routine that separates on-site masses from masses hauled off site
• Records that prove the conditions in Section 3 were secured in advance
• Documented assessment of off-site masses as a resource or as waste
• Per-delivery checks of the haulier and the receiver, verifiable after the fact
• Contractual regulation of the producer role, reporting and who engages the transporter
• Traceability that holds up years after the project ends