Nitrates Directive
Livestock manure under the Waste Framework Directive
While this is not specified by Directive 91/676/EEC itself, it should be stressed that manure/slurry is generally to be characterised as waste under waste legislation, with all the resulting consequences, except when they fall within the scope of the rules applicable to by-products, themselves subject to very strict conditions. The so-called Waste Framework Directive, defines the legal category of waste, including by providing for the exclusion of by-products and products obtained out of recovered waste from that legal category. The Waste Framework Directive also lays down the main rules applicable to waste management. Under prior waste legislation, the CJEU ruled that only where it can be shown to be a by-product is slurry produced in a piggery and used as fertilizer not to be characterised as waste (case C-113/12 Donal Brady v. Environmental Protection Agency, paras. 52-57).
Currently, pursuant to the Waste Framework Directive, a substance or an object obtained from a production process, the primary aim of which is not the production of that item, may be regarded as a by-product rather than as waste provided four conditions are fulfilled. These conditions are as follows: the further use of the object or substance in question must be certain; it must be capable of being used “directly without any further processing other than normal industrial practices”, after having been produced “as an integral part of a production process”; and its further reuse must be lawful in that such substance or object fulfils all relevant products, environmental and health protection requirements for the specific use and will not lead to overall adverse environmental or human health impacts” (Article 5(1)).