The company was found guilty earlier this month at Telford Magistrates on one charge of failing to take reasonable steps to recover and recycle packaging waste and one charge of failing to supply the Environment Agency with a certificate of compliance.
The charges were brought by the Environment Agency under Regulations 3 and 34 of the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997. The company was fined 4,000 and ordered to pay costs of 692.86.
For the Agency, Mrs Kalbir Gill told the court that the company registered in 1999 with the Agency as a producer under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations (1997). The company did not submit a certificate of compliance to the Agency by 31 January 2000.
The Agency contacted the company on several occasions requesting the certificate and on 20 November 2000, the company wrote to the Agency admitting that it had failed to meet its recovery and recycling obligations for 1999.
In mitigation, Mr Charles Arrand of Pinsent Curtis acting for the company said that the regulations were not easy to understand, and that the company operated on several different sites, meaning that each had different environmental policies. He also added that the company’s failure to comply had not led to any direct harm to the environment and it has since employed a member of staff to deal with such matters.
Speaking after the case, Clare Daley, the Agency officer involved in the investigation, said: “The packaging regulations aim to increase the amount of packaging that is recovered and recycled. It is important that every company with a turnover of over 2million which handles 50 tonnes or more packaging a year is aware of their responsibilities under these regulations and helps the UK to meet its targets, set by the European Commission, for recovering and recycling packaging waste.”
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