Cardiff Civil Justice Centre has confirmed that there will be a hearing to refer the Judicial Review into the legality of co-mingled recycling collections to European courts.

Speaking to Resource, Cardiff Civil Justice Centre said: “The claimants have applied for it [to be sent to the European Court of Justice] and it’s being heard on the 24 January 2103 by Mr Justice Burton.”

Resource reported in October 2012 that the case was to be heard in High Court on 26-28 February 2013, but a source close to the Welsh Government said that he expected the case would go to the European Court of Justice, as the wording is unclear in the original European document.

An application made by the claimants to send the case to the European Court of Justice has now been received by Cardiff High Court, and a hearing on the matter has been set for 24 January.

Speaking on behalf of the Campaign for Real Recycling (CRR), claimants in the Judicial Review, Andy Moore said: “On behalf of the claimants in the case of UK Recyclate and others and the Secretary of State EFRA and others, I can confirm that an application has made to the High Court in Cardiff for a referral of this case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

“Increasingly, our counsel has taken the view that in the course of the judicial review, there are good reasons why a judge might seek clarification from CJEU, regarding key sections of the revised Waste Framework Directive. Given that proceedings are currently still at an early stage, it will save the claimants and the governments of England and Wales time and money to establish whether this is needed.

“We are working to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. Although no one welcomes referring the case to CJEU, if this provides local authorities and the UK recycling industry with the clarity they need to plan for the future, then this… should be welcomed by all.”

Moore went on to outline that the claimants believe that “separate collection of recyclable materials is the only way to guarantee high-quality recycling”.

“If the case does not require reference to CJEU, then we will continue to make this case when the Judicial Review is consequently heard at the High Court on 26-28 February”, he added.

Background

Defra and the Welsh Government’s second attempt of drafting the government’s Waste Regulations amendment – came into force on 1 October 2012 in the aim of aligning the UK’s Waste Regulations with the European Commission’s (EC) revised Waste Framework Directive (rWFD) on the collection of dry recyclables.

The rWFD states that local authorities will need to run separate collections of dry recyclables by 2015 (as specified in the EC directive) as long as separate collections are not technically, environmentally and economically practicable (TEEP) and as long as the right quality of recyclate is achieved.

However, the claimant members of the CRR have maintained that the transpositionis “still not an adequate transposition of the revised Waste Framework Directive” and that allowing co-mingled collections to continue could “permanently undermine the environmental and financial benefits of recycling”.