The Queen, on the application of Mayer Parry Recycling Ltd, v Environment Agency and Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, and Corus (UK) Ltd and Allied Steel and Wire Ltd (ASW).
Date: 2003-06-19
51.  That directive was substantially amended by Directive 91/156, although its amendment did not fundamentally alter the concept of waste which still covers substances or objects which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard. The new provisions introduced by Directive 91/156 include Article 2(2), according to which specific rules for particular instances, or supplementary rules, on the management of particular categories of waste may be laid down by means of individual directives, thus making Directive 75/442 framework legislation.
57.  Accordingly, Directive 94/62 must be considered to be special legislation (a   lex specialis  )   vis-à-vis   Directive 75/442, so that its provisions prevail over those of Directive 75/442 in situations which it specifically seeks to regulate.
Consideration of the questions referred for a preliminary ruling
61.  By its second question, the national court essentially seeks to ascertain whether   "recycling"   within the meaning of Article 3(7) of Directive 94/62 is to be interpreted as including the reprocessing of metal packaging waste when it has been transformed into a secondary raw material, such as Grade 3B material, or only when it has been used to produce ingots, sheets or coils of steel.
62.  In order to answer this question, it is necessary, first of all, to interpret the term   "recycling"  , as defined in Article 3(7) of Directive 94/62, and secondly, to consider whether it is the production of Grade 3B material or the manufacture of ingots, sheets or coils of steel from metal packaging waste which must be classified as   "recycling"  .
63.  It is apparent both from the preambles and from the provisions of Directives 75/442 and 94/62 that recycling is a form of recovery. It follows from Article 3(1)(b) of Directive 75/442 and the fourth recital in its preamble that the essential characteristic of a waste recovery operation is constituted by its principal objective that the waste serve a useful purpose in replacing other materials which would have had to be used for that purpose, thereby enabling natural resources to be conserved (Case C-6/00   ASA   [2002] ECR I-1961, paragraph 69). Recycling as a form of recovery must accordingly pursue the same objective.
64.  The definition of recycling in Article 3(7) of Directive 94/62 sets out the elements which make up such an operation, namely the reprocessing of waste materials, in a production process, and for the original purpose or for other purposes excluding energy recovery.
65.  In accordance with that definition, the recycling process has at its base waste material which must be reprocessed. Although the definition does not specify that the waste must be packaging waste, it is clear from the context of Directive 94/62, which relates only to packaging and packaging waste, that only such waste is referred to. By virtue of Article 3(2) of Directive 94/62 and Article 1(a) of Directive 75/442, to which Article 3(2) refers, packaging waste is defined as any packaging or packaging material, excluding production residues, which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard. Packaging waste thus derives from   "packaging"   within the meaning of Article 3(1) of Directive 94/62.
66.  According to the definition of recycling, the packaging waste must undergo   "reprocessing in a production process"  . Such a process requires the packaging waste to be worked in order to produce new material or to make a new product. In this sense, recycling can be clearly distinguished from other recovery or waste-processing operations referred to by the Community legislation, such as reclamation of raw materials and compounds of raw materials (points R 3, R 4 and R 5 of Annex IIB to Directive 75/442), pre-processing, mixing or other operations, which result only in a change in the nature or composition of the waste (see Article 1(b) of Directive 75/442).
67.  Also, the waste may be regarded as recycled only if it has been reprocessed so as to obtain new material or a new product   "for the original purpose"  . This means that the waste must be transformed into its original state in order to be useable, where appropriate, for a purpose identical to the original purpose of the material from which it was derived. In other words, metal packaging waste must be regarded as recycled where it has undergone reprocessing in the course of a process designed to produce new material or make a new product possessing characteristics comparable to those of the material of which the waste was composed, in order to be able to be used again for the production of metal packaging.
68.  The definition of recycling states in addition that the waste may be reprocessed in a production process for the original purpose   "or for other purposes"  . It follows that the concept of recycling is not limited to the situation where the new material or new product, possessing characteristics comparable to those of the original material, is used for the same purpose of metal packaging. Use for other purposes also features in the concept.
69.  Those other purposes may be of any kind so long as the reprocessing of the packaging waste does not take the form of energy recovery, since that is expressly excluded by Article 3(7) of Directive 94/62, and is not effected by means of disposal, a method which would run counter to the very concept of recycling as a form of waste recovery.
70.  The definition of recycling, as interpreted in paragraphs 63 to 69 of this judgment, is consonant with the objectives of Directive 94/62.
71.  As is apparent from the first recital in its preamble and Article 1(1), Directive 94/62 is intended, first, to prevent and reduce the impact of packaging waste on the environment so as to provide a high level of environmental protection and, second, to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market.
72.  Preserving the environment and achieving a high level of environmental protection constitute an objective reflecting the requirements of Article 174(1) and (2) EC. In order to attain that objective, the Community legislature has laid down minimum targets in Article 6(1)(a) of Directive 94/62 in order to ensure that at least one half by weight of packaging waste will be recovered. Recycling is to be regarded as constituting an important part of recovery in its various forms and, along with reuse, is a form to be given preference, as the 11th and 8th recitals in the preamble to Directive 94/62 respectively state.
73.  By interpreting the definition of recycling in Article 3(7) of Directive 94/62 as meaning that the reprocessing of packaging waste must enable new material or a new product possessing characteristics comparable to those of the material from which the waste was derived to be obtained, a high level of environmental protection is ensured.
74.  It is only at that stage that the ecological advantages which led the Community legislature to accord a degree of preference to this form of waste recovery are fully achieved, namely a reduction in the consumption of energy and of primary raw materials (see the 11th recital in the preamble to Directive 94/62).
75.  Furthermore, it is also only at that stage that the materials at issue cease to be packaging waste and the various waste controls laid down by the Community legislature accordingly lose their rationale. Since the recycling involves the transformation of the packaging waste into new material or a new product possessing characteristics comparable to those of the material from which the waste was derived, the result of that transformation can no longer be classified as   "packaging waste"  .