In Lancashire Paul Hartmann Ltd was fined 11,500. The company was also ordered to to pay costs of 717.02 to the Environment Agency, which brought the prosecution.
In a separate case, a Welsh firm B. A. Cash & Carry (Cardiff) Limited, whose registered office is at Hadfield Road, Cardiff was fined the lower sum of 1,000 with 566 costs for breaching the packaging waste regulations.
Paul Hartmann Ltd, which has its registered office at Unit P2, Parklands, Heywood Distribution Park, Pilsworth Road, Heywood,
supplies medical care products to the NHS and via mail order. It pleaded guilty on August 28 2002 to seven offences under the Producer Responsibility Obligations.
David Bradley, prosecuting for the Agency, told Rochdale Magistrates’ Court how the company, which had an annual turnover of between 12 and 15 million during the relevant period, saved between 7,710 and 10,273 by not complying with the regulations over the period 1997 to 2000.
Mr Bradley told magistrates that the company started complying with the regulations in April 2001. However checks by the Agency revealed it should have been registered in previous years.
He added that the company had been aware of the Regulations since 1998, but had misunderstood them, and had not appreciated that they applied to companies that imported packaging. Once the company had appreciated its mistake it had taken action to correct the situation by registering with the Agency.
No response
B. A. Cash & Carry Ltd had been written to on several occasions by Environment Agency Wales (firstly in October 2001) and asked to provide data on the quantity of packaging handled by their business in the previous year. The company did not respond to either written requests or attempts to contact them over the telephone. A legal Notice was served which gave the company 21 days to respond with the data, but still no response was received.
The failure by the company to respond to this Notice constituted the offence for which the company pleaded guilty at Cardiff Magistrates Court on August 29.
An Agency spokesperson said after the case: “It is important that when companies are contacted by the Agency requesting information to establish whether they are above the thresholds and therefore obligated under these regulations, that they work with the Agency to provide such information. This case demonstrates that companies who fail to respond to requests for information sought by means of a legal notice can expect to be prosecuted.”
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