The Costcutter Supermarket Group has been sanctioned for failing to meet its packaging obligations, resulting in it making a payment in excess of £650,000 to WRAP, the highest of the 24 sanctions handed out in the Environment Agency’s latest list.
The data published lists the businesses that have been sanctioned for environmental offences, as required by Article 14 of the Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010, the actions taken to prevent them from re-offending, and the actions taken that will secure equivalent benefit or improvement to the environment – in Costcutter’s case, this was to register with Valpak’s compliance scheme and to make the payment of £650,752.48 to WRAP. It is reported as having failed to register and failed to take reasonable steps to recover and recycle packaging waste.
A spokesperson from Costcutter said: “We unreservedly apologise for this breach of the packaging rules between 1997 and 2014 which was entirely unintentional. As one of the largest convenience store groups in the UK we take our environmental responsibilities very seriously.
When the error was identified by the new Costcutter Supermarkets Group management in 2014, we voluntarily approached the Environment Agency and are pleased this matter is now resolved with the necessary funds having been provided for in previous financial years.”
Also included in the list of offenders are online fashion retailer, asos.com, which has registered with a packaging compliance scheme, named a “responsible person” in the organisation and made a financial contribution of £5,201.91 to the Canal & River Trust; Ecover (UK) Limted, the environmental cleaning products manufacturer, which has also registered with Valpak and made a financial contribution of £22,022.29 to the Marine Conservation Society; and £11,011.14 to the Canal & River Trust.