Ignorance is NO excuse!

A recent case concerning Anderton Concrete Products Ltd highlights this ignorance, the following is directly from the EA:

Concrete business fails to comply with packaging regulations

Leicestershire concrete manufacturer ordered to pay over £50,000 fines and costs for failing to register and recycle packaging waste.

Anderton Concrete Products Ltd, pleaded guilty today (28 Jan 2011) at Coalville Magistrates’ Court to 18 offences under the Packaging Regulations, and asked for a further 12 to be taken into account.

The organisation was fined £36,000, ordered to pay £5,712.55 in costs, £8,408 in compensation, and a £15 victim surcharge.

The organization, of Leicester Road, Ibstock, Leicestershire, really should have been registered with the Environment Agency or a compliance scheme since the year 2000 and was obliged to recover and recycle packaging waste, as well as filing a certificate at the end of every year to confirm it had met these obligations.

However, the business did not register with a compliance scheme until 2010.

The court heard a routine check by the Environment Agency in January 2010 established that the business should have been registered in previous years.

The company’s explanation for failing to comply with the packaging waste regulations was that it was unaware that it was an obligated firm under the regulations.

By failing to register, the firm had avoided fees as well as other costs of £23,615.

Speaking after the case an Environment Officer said: “The packaging regulations are created to decrease the amount of packaging used by businesses and boost the quantity of packaging waste recycled. This case highlights the need for businesses to make sure they understand their responsibility.”

In mitigation, the court heard that the company had entered an early guilty plea, had cooperated fully with the investigation and were not aware that the company were obligated under the regulations. It was an oversight not a deliberate intention to evade the regulations. In addition, the organization is now fully compliant.

The charges were brought by the Environment Agency under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997, 2005 and 2007 (as amended).

As you'll be able to see, being ignorant actually is a costly business.

http://www.beseengogreen.eu/blog/ignorance-is-no-excuse/