The court was asked ‘whether the burning of Cemfuel, as a fuel in the Ribblesdale and Ketton Cement Works operated by the Applicant (Castle), amounts to the burning of ‘hazardous waste’, as the Environment Agency has concluded, or to the burning of a non-waste fuel, as Castle contends.’
Held: Stanley Burnton J said: ‘Whether material is ‘waste’ cannot depend on whether any particular holder of it stores and uses it in an environmentally and otherwise safe manner. Its categorisation should depend on its qualities, not on the qualities of its storage or use. Otherwise the material would be and cease to be waste and come within and outside the controls on hazardous waste as it passed from one holder to another. This would be inconsistent with any rational system of waste control.’ and
‘But for the subsequent judgment of the European Court of Justice in Arco, I should have gratefully adopted Carnwath J’s fine exegesis of the law on this subject. As it is, and regrettably from my point of view, his judgment must now be read subject to the decision of the court in Arco. In particular the last sentence of para 46 of his judgment is inconsistent with paragraphs 94 and 97 of the judgment in Epon.’
Judges:
Stanley Burnton J
Citations:
[2001] EWHC Admin 224
Links:
Statutes:
Waste Framework Directive, 75/442/EEC, Council Directive 91/156/EEC, Council Directive 91/692/EEC
Citing:
Limited – Regina v Environment Agency ex parte Dockgrange Limited and Mayer Parry Limited Admn 22-May-1997
The verb ‘discard’ in the Waste Framework Directive has a special and limited meaning which requires the materials to be subjected to a disposal or recovery operation.
Carnwath J said: ‘The general concept is now reasonably clear. The term . .
Cited by:
Cited – Attorney-General’s Reference (No 5 of 2000) CACD 6-Jun-2001
Waste products could become ‘controlled waste’ and subject to licensing procedures without there being a recovery or disposal operation being involved. A rendering process produced a condensate which the company wished to spread on farm land without . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Environment, Licensing, European
Updated: 29 May 2022; Ref: scu.140294