The Advocate General said in the first ruling on Mayer Parry's case against the Environment Agency that because the company's treatment of packaging waste did not return metal to its original state, it was not recycling (see letsrecycle.com story).
A spokesman for EMR, which has since acquired Mayer Parry, responded: “The Advocate General seems to be saying that because of the impurities in our product, it is not as good a material as iron ore.
“We agree that we don't take it to an identical state – our product is far more refined and far more valuable, otherwise the steelworks wouldn't pay 10 times more for it!”
Mayer produces metal with 2-3% impurities, he argued, compared to the 40-60% impurities present in iron ore. “As the opinion says, 2-3% impurities in our product have not been fully recovered, but the Advocate General probably fails to realise that this is much purer than iron ore,” said the spokesman.
The company said it is very unhappy with the opinion, which it fears the judges are likely to follow in their final verdict. However, the spokesman added: “We will take the opportunity to correct some of the errors in their understanding before the judges' ruling if we can.”
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