Recycled Material Supplies Limited

Leslie Heasman and Dr Mark Sudworth of MJCA provided expert technical advice to the legal team representing Recycled Material Supplies Limited (RMS) who won a landmark judgement  ([2017] EWCA Crim 58) in the Court of Appeal on 24 February 2017. The Court of Appeal was asked by RMS to consider whether the activities it conducted at its site in London comprised a site-based waste operation regulated by the Environment Agency or a site-based waste operation and a separate Part B mobile plant operation regulated by the local authority (London Borough of Newham).  The Court of Appeal ruled that RMS did not undertake a separate Part B mobile plant operation at the site and therefore the waste activities should be regulated solely by the Environment Agency.  On this basis the Court of Appeal ruled that the Environmental Permit for Part B mobile plant issued by London Borough of Newham was invalid and consequently quashed the convictions that resulted from a prosecution brought by London Borough of Newham in 2014 for breaches of the Part B permit.  The technical advice provided by MJCA was instrumental to the defence case presented at the original trial and to the successful grounds of the Appeal.  This decision has implications for future regulation at other sites where the same activities are currently regulated by both an Environment Agency and a Local Authority Environmental Permit.