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In the UK, the legal and financial risks of failing to comply
with packaging regulations was underlined last week, when
a major shoe retailer became the latest high profile firm
to be hit with a fine for breaching waste rules.
Brantano
- a footwear retailer with 147 stores in the UK - has been
ordered to pay over £30,000 after it pleaded guilty to 15
charges related to not registering with the Environment Agency
and not meeting its packaging waste requirements under the
Producer
Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997,
2005 and 2007.
Under the rules, businesses that make, fill, sell or handle
more than 50 tonnes of packaging a year and have a turnover
of more than £2 million must register with the Environment
Agency - either directly or through a producer compliance
scheme, pay for the recovery and recycling of certain amounts
of packaging waste and provide evidence that they have done
so.
The firm managed to avoid costs of £20,000 by ignoring the
regulations - and, as a result, has been fined £30,000.
The scale of the fine is likely to prompt from questions
from environmental groups as to whether the penalties are
high enough to discourage firms from avoiding their packaging
and recycling obligations.
However, a spokeswoman for the Environment Agency insisted
that fines were rising and firms that flouted the rules were
at risk of tougher sentences. "Courts have been treating these
cases with increasing severity recently, we would always welcome
stiff sentences for this type of crime," she said.
Brantano is the latest in a series of firms to be found guilty
of breaching producer responsibility obligations.
Earlier this month, the Great Western Wine Company was ordered
to pay charges of more than £35,000 in fines and costs for
not recycling its waste packaging, while drinks firm Red Bull
received a record £261,268 fine last year for a similar offence.
High profile hair straightener manufacturer, GHD, was also
hit with a fine and costs totalling over £9,000 after claiming
it was unaware of the rules.
Fines for packaging infringements have been ramped up over
the last few years. In 2007 and 2008, around £700,000 worth
of fines were paid in both years - up from over £470,000 in
2006 and £210,000 in 2005.
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