Business

Allen and Douglas Corporate Clothing (A&D) has been ordered to pay more than £7,600 for breaching packaging waste regulations from 2004 to 2006, and a separate incident in 2002.

The Banbury firm, which produces uniforms and work gear for the hospitality, retail and transport sectors, was fined £3,900 for six offences of failing to recover and recycle packaging waste.

Bicester Magistrates Court also awarded the Environment Agency (EA) £1,478 in costs and a further £2,304 in compensation for A&D's failure to register with an appropriate scheme.

The Producer Responsibility (Packaging Waste) Regulations require businesses with an annual turnover of more than £2m that handle over 50 tonnes of packaging each year to register with a compliance programme.

In February 2006, A&D informed the EA it had handled 70 tonnes of packaging in 2005, and outlined its intentions to join the Valpak programme at interview the following August.

However, it admitted in March 2007 that it had missed the sign-up date and would not be registered for a further year.

Environment officer Sue Gebbels said the failure to sign up to a recovery scheme meant less money was available to invest in recycling infrastructure.

"It is important companies take this responsibility seriously to stop the tonnes of packaging piling up in the UK's shrinking landfill sites," she said.

Jill Thomas, managing director of A&D, said the company had been unaware of the regulations, but as soon as it was contacted by the EA it had done "everything we could to rectify the situation".
 
"We take our recycling and waste management really seriously," she said.