Garden machinery company fined £3,420 for failing to meet recycling obligations.
Rochford Garden Machinery has been ordered to pay £1,552 in compensation and £1,868 in costs for failing to recycle its waste packaging correctly.

The Somerset-based company pleaded guilty to six offences under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 at a magistrates sitting in Yeovil.

Under the regulations, companies with an annual turnover of £2m or more and handling more than 50 tonnes of packaging a year are legally required to recover and recycle a percentage of any packaging it handles.

In December last year, the Environment Agency wrote to Rochford to ascertain whether the company was compliant with packaging regulations. Rochford director Peter Rochford responded, confirming that the garden machinery company exceeded the criteria of more than 50 tonnes of waste a year and had a turnover of almost £8.8m in 2007.

However, he explained that it was unaware of the regulations and had therefore not registered of joined a compliance scheme. The company had recycled some of its waste but had not bought the Packaging Recovery Notes, which are required in order to comply with the regulations.

Checks by the Environment Agency revealed that Rochford had avoided paying £1,945 in packaging costs by failing to register in 2007 and 2008.

The Agency's Tessa Bowering said: "It is important for companies to be aware of their responsibilities under the Packaging Waste regulations. The original regulations came into force in 2997, so businesses have had plenty of time to learn about their waste packaging obligations."