The case was brought in December 2009 by Germany’s Interseroh Scrap & Metals Trading, a steel and metal scrap dealer which had contracted Sonderabfall-Management-Gesellschaft Rheinland-Pfalz mbH (SAM) to handle waste streams in the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz.
Under the agreement, SAM was to be the main contact for all producers and disposers of hazardous waste in the region. Interseroh, acting as an intermediary dealer, bought scrap metal from SAM for resale. But it did not actually take physical possession of the waste.
However, as official owner of...
