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Friday 9 December 2011 - No Embargo CRR response to Adjournment of Judicial Review
On Tuesday 6th December, the Hon Justice Lloyd Jones of the High Court sitting in Cardiff, ordered that the proceedings of the Judicial Review of Defra and Welsh Government’s transposition of the revised Waste Framework Directive, brought by members of the Campaign for Real Recycling (CRR), be stayed until 13th June next year.
This was at the request of the defendants, Defra and the Welsh Government Ministers, which had reconsidered the wording of Regulation 13 of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 and decided that it needed amendment, as the claimants had maintained, in order to transpose properly the revised Waste Framework Directive (rWFD). Defra has offered to pay the legal costs of the claimants up until the 28th of November and intends to seek views from the relevant stakeholders regarding a redrafting.
Mal Williams, Chair of CRR, said: “We are pleased to have won this review and I take this opportunity to thank our legal advisors on behalf of our stakeholders. We took no pleasure in having had to bring it, however, and I should add that this adjournment was not our choice in taking the review forward. We would have preferred simply to have seen the contradictory paragraph 13(2) removed from the regulations by the judge. This matter could have been settled by Christmas.
“Alongside material quality improvement, our other objective in bringing the review was to achieve greater clarity for all stakeholders. That it is not complete will cause more uncertainty for local authorities, contractors and commercial customers currently involved in tendering for recycling services or thinking about making changes to comply with the rWFD. Moreover it seems to us that the proximity of the new hearing date to the summer Parliamentary and Welsh Government recesses means the process could take most of 2012.
“We don’t know how or whom Defra intends to consult in the redrafting. No doubt we will learn more in the New Year and we look forward to that. We do expect Defra to approach the issue of redrafting the regulations with a long-term view, working with the whole UK supply chain, starting with the UK reprocessing companies that buy the collected materials and that brought this judicial review, to maximise value from recyclable materials.”
Information for Editors:
The Campaign for Real Recycling wants central government and local authorities to act urgently to improve the quality of materials collected for recycling in the UK. Real recycling is about maximising the economic, environmental and social benefits of recycling for everyone, from the local council tax payer to the global reprocessing industry. Our concern is that collection systems that gather a range of different materials in one bag or bin and then compact them could permanently undermine the environmental and financial benefits of recycling. Our campaign aims to influence local authority policy and practice, and build consensus within the UK of the economic and environmental importance of highly-separated collections.
Claimants in the Judicial Review:
• UK Recyclate Ltd
• Smurfit Kappa UK
• Palm Recycling Ltd
• D S Smith Paper Ltd
• Novelis UK Ltd
• Plastics Sorting Ltd
• Ardagh Glass Ltd
Legal Advisors to the Claimants:
• Anthony Collins Solicitors, 134 Edmund Street, Birmingham
• Timothy Straker QC and Garrett Byrne of 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square
Campaign for Real Recycling supporters:
•Ardagh Group http://www.ardagh.co.uk
•Aylesford Newsprint http://www.aylesford-newsprint.co.uk/
•Berryman Glass http://www.berryman-uk.co.uk/
•Bryson Recycling http://www.brysonrecycling.co.uk
•Cleanstream Recycling
•Community Recycling Network UK http://www.crn.org.uk/
•Community Recycling Network Scotland http://www.crns.org.uk/
•Cylch - Wales Community Recycling Network http://www.cylch.org/
•DS Smith Recycling Ltd http://www.dssmith.uk.com/
•Friends of the Earth http://www.foe.org.uk/
•May Gurney plc www.maygurney.co.uk/
•Newport Wastesavers http://www.wastesavers.co.uk/
•Novelis http://www.novelis.com/Internet/en-US
•Palm Recycling Ltd http://www.palmrecycling.co.uk/
•Plastic Sorting Limited http://p-s-l.co.uk/
•Recyclatex http://www.textile-recycling.org.uk/recyclatex.htm
•Smurfit Kappa UK http://www.smurfitkappa.co.uk/
•Straight plc http://www.straight.co.uk/
•Textile Recycling Association http://www.textile-recycling.org.uk/
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