Euro court rules on the word waste
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• The European Court has ruled that the term "waste" includes anything discarded by the owners, even if it has a commercial value and was collected on a commercial basis for recycling.
The court had been asked to define the term by the Italian courts in proceedings brought against .Tombesi and three other waste disposal contractors which were accused of transporting, discharging, disposing of waste without authority.
In its decision, the European Court said the EC Regulations laid down a common definition of the concept of waste which was of direct application even to shipments within member states. It decreed the rules governing waste was intended to cover all objects discarded by their owners.
The court also held that a de-activation process intended merely to render waste harmless, landfill tipping, and waste incineration, constituted disposal or recovery operations and therefore falls within the scope of the Community rules on its carriage.
It said the fact that a substance was classified as a reusable residue without its original characteristics or purpose was irrelevant. The same applied to the grinding of a waste substance.
I 1 Landfill tax feature, page 30.