Two sister companies selling calendars and gifts have been ordered to pay nearly £10,000 in fines and costs for waste packaging offences. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.

All companies with a turnover of more than £2 million and handling more than 50 tonnes of packaging a year are legally required to register with the Environment Agency or with an approved compliance scheme.

The aim of the regulations is to encourage businesses to recycle and reduce the amount of waste packaging going to landfill. By placing the financial burden on packaging producers it also discourages over-packaging.

To be compliant a company must register with the Agency by April 7 each year and provide evidence of recycling and recovery by purchasing packaging waste recovery notes known as PRNs. It is an offence to fail to register.

On May 20 2008 the Agency wrote to The Calendar Club Ltd in Water Lane, Haven Banks, Exeter. The company, which operates a series of retail calendar shops, confirmed that in 2005 and 2006 it had a turnover of £16 million and £18 million respectively and handled in excess of 50 tonnes of packaging including plastic, paper and card.

The Agency also contacted a sister company, Otter House Ltd, a calendar and gift publisher also based at Haven Banks. The company is a wholesaler supplying calendars and animal-themed gifts to retailers throughout the UK.  The company confirmed that in 2006 and 2007 it had a turnover of £8 million and £9 million respectively.

Otter House and The Calendar Club are subsidiaries of the Otter House Group. A court heard that both companies did a large amount of recycling, but none of it was registered or recorded and it therefore contravened the latest regulations.

After being approached by the Agency, the two companies took steps to ensure they were registered for 2008. However, failure to comply in 2006 and 2007 resulted in Otter House and Calendar Club avoiding costs of £929 and £891 and £1,094 and £956 respectively.

‘These two successful companies should have been aware of their packaging obligations The regulations were originally introduced in the UK in 1997 under a European Directive,’ said Chris Barnes for the Environment Agency.

Appearing before Exeter magistrates on June 16, The Calendar Club Ltd was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £856.73 costs plus £1,544 compensation after pleading guilty six offences under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2005 including failing to register and provide a certificate of compliance. Otter House Ltd was fined £3,000 after pleading guilty to six similar offences.