A tech firm, a drinks company and a home furnisher will pay a total of almost £87,000 to good causes after they failed to comply with packaging waste regulations designed to protect the environment, the Environment Agency (EA) says.
Softcat plc, an IT infrastructure and services provider based in Marlow, has pledged £35,803.99 to the National Trust, after failing to comply with the law for more than a decade.
Meanwhile, alcoholic drinks company Sazerac UK Limited, based in Hampton Wick, will contribute £45,088.49 to Surrey Wildlife Trust after failure to comply from 2017 to 2019.
Finally, La-Z-Boy UK Limited, based in Maidenhead, will give £5,736.89 to Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, due to non-compliance in 2020.
If companies fail to meet their obligations under environmental law, we will take action to ensure that they change their ways.
All 3 recognised that they had failed to comply with the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 (as amended), which ensure that businesses fund the recycling of the packaging waste that they place on the UK market, the EA says.
By failing to register with a compliance scheme and to take reasonable steps to recover and recycle packaging waste, the EA continues, the businesses also avoided paying a charge based on how much packaging they got through in the same period.
Commentating on the sanctions, Environment Agency senior technical officer, Jake Richardson, said: “Any company handling more than 50 tonnes of packaging a year, and with a turnover of above £2 million, must register with the Environment Agency or a packaging compliance scheme, and meet their responsibilities for recycling waste packaging.
“If companies fail to meet their obligations under environmental law, we will take action to ensure that they change their ways.
“The Environment Agency accepted proactive enforcement undertaking offers from all of the companies, a type of civil sanction which allows businesses to make amends while demonstrating how they will comply with the law in future.
“The companies each agreed to register with a compliance scheme, revise internal processes and assign a responsible person.”