This was a reference by the Queen's Bench Division in the course of criminal proceedings brought by the Environment Agency against Thames Water alleging that it had been responsible for the spilling of untreated sewage from the sewerage network on to land in Kent.
The case considered the meaning of waste and the exceptions to that concept under the Waste Framework Directive (Directive 75/442) as well as the relationship between that Directive and the Urban Waste Water Directive.
Instructed by the Treasury Solicitor's Department for the UK
