The provision for the conservation of excavated humus in § 202 of the German code of building law is generally considered to aim at soil protection. However it has additional relevance in the context of waste management law: The excavated humus generally constitutes waste in the legal sense and is thereby subject to the provisions of corresponding regulations. § 202 of the German code of building law accordingly concretises the principles set up by the European waste hierarchy, which have been implemented in § 6 of the German code of recycling management.