Is used oil or a battery hazardous waste under disclosure B7 of the European Union (EU) voluntary standard for small companies (VSME)?
Yes in the standard's examples: used lubricants and oils classed as hazardous, and lead batteries, are both listed as hazardous. It recommends sorting waste by the European Waste Catalogue, where an asterisk marks hazardous waste. VSME is the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group's Voluntary standard for non-listed micro-, small- and medium-sized undertakings.
What the standard says
- Disclosure B7 asks for total annual waste generated, broken down into non-hazardous and hazardous.
- Undertakings are recommended to classify hazardous waste with the European Waste Catalogue (EWC). In the EWC, any waste marked with an asterisk is classified as hazardous.
- A waste is also hazardous if it shows one or more of the hazardous properties listed in Annex III of the Waste Framework Directive (the standard's guidance text says Annex II, a slip; its own definition says Annex III), for example flammability, toxicity or corrosiveness.
The standard's own examples
- Manufacturing: used lubricants and oils classified as hazardous, EWC code 13 02 05*.
- Batteries: lead batteries 16 06 01*, nickel-cadmium batteries 16 06 02*, batteries containing mercury 16 06 03*.
- Construction: asbestos-containing materials 17 09 03*.
- Small business examples in the guidance: batteries, used oils, pesticides, mercury-containing equipment and fluorescent lamps.
Our reading for an Indian unit
India has its own hazardous waste rules and lists, and the standard does not mention them. The standard recommends the European catalogue, so a buyer in Europe will understand it. Our suggestion: use the European code if you can match it, and write which list you used. Keep the disposal slips from your authorised collector as the record of the weights.
If you only make household-type waste
The standard says undertakings that generate only household waste may leave out the B7 waste figures and just state that they generate household waste.
What Senseible does here
Senseible fills the energy and emissions disclosure from fuel invoices and electricity bills. This disclosure is not part of it today; it comes from your own registers and papers.
- What is the VSME standard?
- What counts as waste diverted to recycling?
- If a disclosure does not apply, what do I write?
Last reviewed 2026-11-07. Facts are from the standard's own text, with the paragraph numbers named in the source line. The European Commission adopted its own standard for voluntary use in a Delegated Regulation of 3 July 2026, which is not in force until it is published in the Official Journal and may differ from this text, so ask your buyer which one it means. Our own readings are marked as such.