Cooper B-Line Ltd was yesterday ordered to pay 14,386 in fines and costs after the Environment Agency found it was not carrying out its legal duty to pay for packaging waste to be recycled and recovered.
” Companies need to familiarise themselves with the legislation if they don’t want to end up in court. “
– Mark Pritchard, Environment Agency
The Highbridge-based company was found to have avoided recycling costs of about 2,880 for 2002 and 2003 by not registering its producer responsibility.
It has since joined compliance scheme Valpak in order to meet its legal obligations under the Producer Responsibility Regulations. Under the regulations, any company with a turnover above 2 million and which handles at least 50 tonnes of packaging in a year must register and contribute towards the UK's packaging recovery targets.
Cooper B-Line packs its products in card and stacks them on wooden pallets to sell to wholesalers in the UK and abroad. The Agency contacted the company in May 2004 after establishing it was not registered under the regulations. The firm joined Valpak in August 2004.
Guilty
The company appeared before Bridgwater magistrates yesterday pleading guilty to four charges under the Producer Responsibility Obligations Regulations 1997 and the Environment Act 1995. Two of the offences were for failing to register in 2002 and 2003, while the other two offences were for failing to recover and recycle during the same period.
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The company was fined 3,400 for each offence and ordered to pay costs of 1,186.
Mark Pritchard from the Environment Agency said: “Companies need to familiarise themselves with the legislation if they don’t want to end up in court.”
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