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Cobra Beer has been ordered to pay almost £26,000 in fines, costs and compensation for failing in its obligations to recover and recycle packaging waste over a three-year period.

Cobra pleaded guilty today (15 November) to avoiding almost £22,000 in fees and costs from 2003 to 2005 by failing to register under the Producer Responsibility (Packaging Waste) Regulations.

The Environment Agency, which brought the case at Hendon Magistrates' Court in London, said Cobra had avoided Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) costs of approximately £150 in 2003, £140 in 2004 and £16,000 in 2005.

Under the Producer Responsibility Regulations and PRN system, companies with a turnover of more than £2m and that handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging a year must register to pay a proportion of the cost of the recovery and recycling of their packaging.

Christopher Edgcumbe-Rendle, business development director for Cobra Beer, said the company "apologised unreservedly" for failing to take the "necessary steps to engage with the Environment Agency to meet all of our obligations".

He said the company had since joined a PRN compliance scheme accredited by the Environment Agency.

It had also appointed an operations director and operations team "to ensure that our production policies and practices go even further to fulfil our genuine commitment to environmental responsibility".