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Mayer Parry Recycling Ltd (Plaintiff) – and – The Environment Agency (Defendant)

Country/Territory
United Kingdom
Type of court
Others
Date
Nov 9, 1998
Source
UNEP, InforMEA
Court name
High Court of Justice
Seat of court
London
Judge
Carnwath
Reference number
CH 1997 M No. 2722
Language
English
Subject
Waste & hazardous substances
Keyword
Recycling/reuse Waste management
Abstract
Mayer Parry (MPR) was one of the largest scrap metal merchants in the UK. The Defendant was the Environment Agency, the body responsible for the issuing and enforcement of waste management licenses under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The dispute between MPR and the Environment Agency concerned the scope of the definition of "waste" in the Waste Management Regulations 1994. They gave effect in the UK to the EEC Waste Framework Directive (Directive 75/442 of 15th July 1975). The principal significance of a finding whether material handled by MPR at various stages was "waste" was in determining to what extent it required a waste management license under the Environment Protection Act 1990. It was also relevant to the application of statutory regimes governing transportation, export and brokerage of waste, as well as to the "duty of care" applying to those handling waste. The Court analyzed the statutory regime, European regulations as well as European court decisions related to the term “waste”. It concluded that one form of "recovery operation" in the meaning of the relevant European directive was "recycling or reclamation of metals and metal compounds". Accordingly, so long as the materials continued to be subject to any process falling within that description they remained waste for the purpose of the definition. “Recycling/reclamation of metals" was MPR’s business; therefore, all the operations which formed part of that business - from sorting to fragmentizing - were recovery operations within the meaning of the directive. In particular, the mere fact that some operations did not in themselves have environmental implications was not a reason for excluding them from the definition. Conversely, once MPR had restored the material to a form which was suitable for sale as raw material to steelworks or other manufacturers, the task of recovery was complete, and the material ceased to be waste.
Full text
mayer.htm