Waste from intermediate manufacture can qualify under Rule 57D, with credit benefit retained for unusable separator components.

Waste arising during the manufacture of separators used as battery components can fall within Rule 57D(1), because the rule is not confined to waste generated only when the final product emerges. Defective or unusable intermediate components may still constitute waste, refuse or by-product if they arise in the course of manufacture. On that basis, the departmental objection that separators were not the final product was unsustainable, and the Rule 57D benefit remained available for the waste so generated.

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Issues: Whether waste arising during manufacture of separators, which were component parts of batteries, could be treated as waste or refuse for the purpose of Rule 57D(1), and whether credit or duty consequences could be denied on that basis.

Analysis: The authorities had rejected the claim on the view that defective and unusable components could not be treated as waste, refuse or by-product because they were not the final product. The Tribunal held that the scheme of Rule 57D does not restrict waste to the stage at which the final product emerges. Waste can arise at any stage of manufacture, including the stage of intermediate products, and the fact that separators were component parts did not take the waste outside the rule.

Conclusion: The objection of the department was not sustainable and the benefit of Rule 57D was applicable to the waste arising in the manufacture of separators.

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