Palin Granit Oy
Leftover stone from a quarry, stored for an indefinite period pending possible use, was waste, but a by product can escape the definition if its reuse is certain, without further processing and as part of the continuing production process.
Facts
Palin Granit operated a granite quarry in Finland, and applied for a permit for a site where it stored the leftover stone produced by its quarrying operations. Only a small proportion of the leftover stone was used, for example in harbour works, and the rest was stored indefinitely. The question was whether the leftover stone was waste, so that its storage required a permit under the Waste Framework Directive.
Legal principle
The Court of Justice held that the leftover stone was waste. The court said that a by product, which an undertaking does not wish to discard but intends to exploit or market on terms which are advantageous to it, may not be waste, but only where its reuse is not a mere possibility but a certainty, without any further processing prior to reuse and as an integral part of the continuing process of production. The stone here was stored for an indefinite period, and its reuse was uncertain, so it was waste. The criteria for by products are now set out in the revised Waste Framework Directive.
Related cases on pollution offences, contaminated land and waste
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- Empress Car Co (Abertillery) Ltd v National Rivers Authority [1999] 2 AC 22
- Inter-Environnement Wallonie ASBL v Région Wallonne Case C-129/96, [1997] ECR I-7411
- R (National Grid Gas plc) v Environment Agency [2007] UKHL 30, [2007] 1 WLR 1780
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- R v Thames Water Utilities Ltd [2015] EWCA Crim 960
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