Selection of a leaching test

Based on the information about the leaching behaviour of the material, the nature of the environment in which the material is or will be placed and an understanding of the nature and objective of the assessment, it is possible to select the most appropriate leaching test or battery of tests. It may be necessary to adapt existing tests in order to reflect more accurately the specific circumstances under consideration. The methodology behind the selection and adaptation of any tests used must be reported together with the results of testing. 

Where a substantial amount of information is available regarding the leaching behaviour of a material in a specific set of circumstances, only a short, compliance type test will be necessary. On the other hand, for a material with poorly 

Commonly, leaching tests are selected for use without full consideration of what they will and will not take into account. The most common factors considered in the selection of tests are convenience of application, cost, time to perform the test and minimisation of the number of leachate samples which must be analysed. Whilst these factors are very important considerations, they must be balanced against the risk of obtaining meaningless data which cannot be used correctly in an assessment of environmental impact. 

Standards are not relevant in all circumstances. Standardised tests should not be used without considering whether they are appropriate to the particular set of circumstances under consideration. Where they are not appropriate, an alternative test or more appropriate leaching fluid should be selected and used and its selection in preference to the standard test justified. 

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