An application for a judicial review into whether the UK’s transposition of the revised Waste Framework Directive (rWFD) is lawful, has been placed by the Campaign for Real Recycling (CRR).
It argues that everyone involved will benefit from knowing where they stand with regard to the directive requiring separate collection of paper, plastic, glass and metal by 2015. Defra argues that commingled collection of material counts as separate collection in its transposition.
As a result, an application for a judicial review of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations was filed last week at the High Court by CRR representatives. In the view of the claimants, these regulation, which allows for commingling, fails to transpose Article 11 of the rWFD properly and is therefore not a proper and legal transposition of the rWFD as a whole.
CRR chair Mal Williams said: “We have not requested this judicial review lightly. We understand the concerns of councils and their service providers. If we are to build an industry that is in step with our European counterparts, capable of maximising value from the UK’s waste resources, this is an issue which needs resolving this year.
“Kerbside-sorted recycling collections produce the quality of material favoured by materials reprocessors in the UK and this approach is consistent with obtaining best value for money.
“For reasons which will no doubt become apparent to everyone in due course, Defra has taken the opportunity to enact regulation consistent with these facts or in our view with the wording of the rWFD. Given that, obtaining clarity in this matter unfortunately requires us to resort to legal action, but that clarity is surely something to be welcomed by all parties in our industry.”
