Herefordshire Wildlife Trust benefits £23,645 from waste packaging offence
The wildlife trust is receiving the money following an Enforcement Undertaking (EU) accepted by the Environment Agency.
Some of the new fencing at Titley Pool
Image credit: Herefordshire Wildlife Trust
This financial contribution (£23,645.59 ) is from an EU offered to the Environment Agency by Edmo Ltd, a company based in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, who specialise in aluminium fabrication.
The company admitted between 1998 and 2016 it had not been registered as a producer of waste packaging regulations.
Company officials said they were unaware they had to register under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations.
These regulations ensure packaging materials such as cardboard, plastics and glass are recycled and do not end up in landfill.
Companies with a turnover of £2 million or more and which handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging per year must ensure a certain percentage of waste packaging is recycled.
They do this by registering with a packaging producer compliance scheme or directly with the Environment Agency and funding the recovery and recycling of packaging waste.
Amy Currie, a regulatory officer for the Environment Agency, said:
Enforcement Undertakings allow businesses who fail to comply with legal requirements or pollute the environment to come into compliance or positively address and restore any harm caused to the environment and prevent repeat incidents.
The Environment Agency is increasingly using this method of enforcement for suitable cases to restore and improve the environment, change behaviour and improve practices of the offender.
Please report any environmental issues to the Environment Agency’s 24 hour incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.
A spokesperson for the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust said:
The donation has enabled us to make significant improvements to a number of our nature reserves across Herefordshire.
The donation has funded the following:
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At Titley Pool nature reserve, £2,500 to fence around grassland area to allow livestock to graze and to protect the sensitive lakeside vegetation from sheep.
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At Clay Vallets, an ancient woodland in the north of the county, we have, again, been able to invest in fencing and gates to make the reserve’s boundary stock proof, spending £398.
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The Sturts is a grassland reserve rich in diverse species of wildflower and grasses. Here, £1,500 had paid for a local farmer to bring their livestock to temporarily graze over the autumn and then cut the hay for us in the summer.
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The remaining £19,247 is planned to be spent on purchase of land at Common Hill, near Fownhope. This land is adjacent to another of our reserves which will extend the site and restore limestone grassland for wildlife.
Notes for editors
Enforcement Undertakings (EUs) enable firms and individuals who have damaged the environment or operated outside of legislative requirements to offer to complete actions which will address the cause and effect of their offending, including making a payment to an appropriate environmental project.
EUs can be offered for offences including polluting rivers, breaching permit conditions designed to protect communities, or failing to register and comply with recycling/recovery obligations. The Environment Agency then carefully considers whether the actions offered by the offender are acceptable.
Where the breach does not have a direct impact on the environment, such as Packaging Waste Regulations offences, EU offers must contain actions that will protect, restore or enhance the environment.
Environmental incidents should be reported to the Environment Agency’s 24 hour incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.