Business

A London wine merchant has been fined nearly £50,000 for failing to recover and recycle more than 2,800 tonnes of packaging waste.

Highbury-based Berkmann Wine Cellars, which considers itself to be an "environmentally conscious" firm, with some staff driving "green" Toyota Prius cars, pleaded guilty to charges under the Producer Responsibility Obligations.

The firm was fined £40,000 and paid £2,121 in costs to the Environment Agency for failing to register as a producer of packaging and for failing to meet its requirements to recover and recycle packaging waste from 1999 to 2005.

It was also ordered to pay £6,086 to the agency as compensation for lost registration fees.

Under the obligations, firms with a turnover of more than £2m that handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging each year must contribute to UK recycling targets for packaging waste.

Berkmann deputy chairman Keith Clanan admitted in an interview under caution that from 1998 to 2006, the firm had an annual turnover of £15.5m-£41m and as such should have been registered since 1998.

From 2000 to 2005, the firm handled 16,500 tonnes of waste, of which 2,819 tonnes should have been recovered and recycled. Berkmann saved an estimated £72,654 by not doing this.

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said: "This case should serve as a warning to other companies that they must take steps to ensure that their operations are fully compliant with the provisions of the packaging regulations."