Company Fined £11,500 For Recycling Failures

Magistrates this week fined Paul Hartmann Limited £11,500 after hearing how it failed to comply with regulations designed to reduce the amount of packaging waste that goes to landfill.

As well as being fined, the company was ordered to pay costs of £717.02 to the Environment Agency, which brought the prosecution.

The Environment Agency told the Court how the company - which had an annual turnover of between £12m and £15m during the relevant period - saved between £7,710 and £10,273 by not complying with the regulations over the period 1997 to 2000.

The regulations implement a European Directive which sets targets for the recovery and recycling of packaging waste in European states. The aim of the Directive is to promote recovery and recycling of packaging waste and thereby reduce the amount going to waste – such as landfill.

Under the regulations, companies handling significant amounts of packaging waste, and with a sufficient turnover, such as Paul Hartmann Limited, must first register with the Environment Agency. They must then either arrange themselves to have certain amounts of packaging waste recycled and recovered each year, or join a registered scheme to do it on their behalf.

Mr Bradley told magistrates that the company starting complying with the regulations in April 2001. However checks by the Agency revealed it should have been registered in previous years.

He added that the company had been aware of the Regulations since 1998, but had misunderstood them, and had not appreciated that they applied to companies that imported packaging. Once the company had appreciated its mistake it had taken action to correct the situation by registering with the Agency.

The company supplies medical care products to the NHS and via mail order.
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