Richard Woollard - 9-Feb-2007 - Cake makers Classic Cakes
Ltd of Daventry, has been fined a total of £12,000
and ordered to pay £1,100 Environment Agency costs
by Northampton Magistrates’ Court today for failing its
environmental duty to recycle.
At its premises in Drayton Fields, Daventry Classic Cakes
specialises in making own label cake products for major
retailers, packaging them for distribution.
A business which places goods into packaging is known as
a pack/filler and under regulations must recover and recycle
the equivalent of 37 per cent of its packaging.
The company should have followed the regulations since
at least 2003. The current managing director Mr Suresh Patel
took over in 2002.
Under rules to control the amount of waste going into landfill,
companies which deal with more than 50 tonnes of packaging
in a year and have an annual turnover in excess of £2m
have a duty to pay for the recycling of a quantity of packaging
material.
Classic Cakes handled 60 tonnes of packaging in 2003 and
70 tonnes in 2004. The company’s turnover for the same years
was £3 million and £4.1 million.
Mr Patel told Environment Agency officers that he thought
the threshold was £5million and didn’t know the figure
had changed in 2000.
The company admitted six offences in Northampton Magistrates’
Court today (Fri), three offences for each of two qualifying
years.
The offences came to light on a routine enquiry by the
Environment Agency, whose responsibility it is to enforce
the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste)
Regulations 1997 and 2005.
The aim of the regulations is to reduce the amount of waste
going into landfill sites and the failure of companies to
comply with this legislation undermines the UK’s ability
to meet targets set out in the European Directive.
Under the regulations, obligated companies are required
to: 1) register with the Environment Agency or a compliance
scheme by 7 April each year based on the previous year’s
turnover and packaging use 2) provide evidence of recovery
and recycling of specific tonnages of packaging waste and
3) provide the Environment Agency with a certificate stating
that they have met their obligations.
It appears that the company has been obligated for several
years and would have saved money during that time by not
registering to recycle. The company is now registered under
the small producers scheme.
For companies with a turnover between £2 million
and £5 million, a simplified system was introduced
with the 2005 regulations which saves the company having
to calculate the packing handled and is instead calculated
pro rata based on turnover.
After the hearing Environment Agency investigating officer
Charlie Phillips said: ‘The Packaging Waste Regulations
aim to ensure that businesses take responsibility for packaging
used on their products by contributing towards packaging
recycling and recovery to minimise their environmental impact.
‘Although these regulations have been in force since 1997,
some companies still ignore or remain unaware of their responsibilities.
We actively seek to find and prosecute companies which are
found to be in breach of these regulations.’