kitchen distributor fined for packaging waste offences
A Bristol business has been given a penalty of
over £18,000 in fines, costs and compensation by a magistrates
court. The court heard that although the business had been under
the threshold for registration when investigated by the Environment
Agency in 2000, it had subsequently crossed the threshold, but
failed to register despite knowing of the regulations as a result
of the Environment Agency intervention in 2000.
By failing to register, the business had
avoided costs of £5,430.
This case is a reminder to all
businesses that are not registered to monitor their turnover
and volumes of packaging handled on a yearly basis to avoid
unwittingly exceeding the thresholds of £2 million turnover and 50
tonnes of packaging without registering and consequently committing
a criminal offence. It is important to remember that "handling"
packaging does not mean throwing it away, but making it, or filling
it or selling products contained in packaging to the end
consumer.
It is also worth remembering that the civil
sanctions scheme can be used proactively by businesses which
realise that they have failed to register, by offering an
"enforcement undertaking" to the Environment Agency as a way of
limiting liability and dealing with the matter without going to
court. An example of this is the
settlement achieved by Invensys plc in July of this year.
