Rebecca Hubbard
Posted: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 11:14 am

In less than a week, food supplier Terbeke Pluma UK is the second company to be fined for breaking packaging waste law.

Terbeke, based in Surrey, was ordered to pay a total of £7,532 after being fined £4,500 and incurring costs of £3,032 as they pleaded guilty to failing to recover packaging waste in 2008.

This fine follows the penalties of fellow companies Hatcher Components and Broadwater Mouldings, who were each fined £3,684 for failing to join a recycling scheme during 2008 and 2009.

Terbeke had registered in previous years, according to the Environment Agency, said but "due to reporting requirements being misunderstood", believed it did not need to register for 2008.

Carol Getting, investigating officer, said: "It is disappointing that although the regulations have been in force for more than a decade, the requirements are still widely misunderstood."

The legislation flouted by the firms, the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations, states that firms that handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging and receive a turnover that exceeds £2m a year are required to register with packaging compliance scheme with the Environment Agency.

It is reported that the Environment Agency stumbled across the finding after a routine investigation at Terbeke. It was found that the food supplier had "incorrectly calculated the tonnage of packaging handled as being below the registration threshold of 50 tonnes when in fact it had handled more than 500 tonnes".

Non-compliance to the legislation, according to company secretary Dirk De Backer, was down to an administrative error.

"In the past, we've always complied fully [with the regulations] and will continue to do so," he said.