#packaging #environmental

Jill Park, packagingnews.co.uk, 23 June 2009

Two sister companies that manufacture calendars and gifts in Exeter have been fined nearly £10,000 under the Packaging Waste Directive.

Otter House and The Calendar Club in Exeter, owned by Otter House Group, were found to be in breach of the directive between 2006 and 2007.

Exeter magistrates fined the Calendar Club £6,000 and ordered them to pay £856.73 costs plus £1,544 compensation after pleading guilty to six breaches of the directive.

Otter House also pleaded guilty to six similar offences under the directive and was fined £3,000.

Companies with a turnover of more than £2m, which handle more than 50 million tonnes of packaging a year are legally required to register with the Environment Agency or an approved compliance scheme.

Both companies took steps to register for 2008 after the Environment Agency first contacted them.

“Ignorance of the law is no excuse, of course.  As soon as we found out about this legislation we immediately complied,” said Hendrik Vollers, managing director of the Calendar Club.

He said: “In our case it’s not that we are not doing the right thing in terms of waste recycling as we are already recycling more than required. It’s purely red tape.”

Tags: environment, packaging

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