Supermarket chain Costcutter has made a donation of £650,000 to resource efficiency charity WRAP as part of a set of enforcement undertakings announced by the Environment Agency today.
Costcutter Supermarkets Group Limited is among the 44 companies that were offered civil sanctions for breaching producer responsibility legislation between 28 January 2017 to 31 August 2017.
The company, which operates around 1,700 convenience stores around the UK, was found by the Environment Agency to have failed to take reasonable steps to recover and recycle packaging waste, as required by the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007.
As well as the payment of £650,752.48 to WRAP, the company has been registered with the Valpak compliance scheme, introduced a new methodology and contributed cost recovery to the Environment Agency.
The primary purpose of the enforcement undertaking is to allow an offending company to restore and remediate any environmental damage they have caused.
The Costcutter payment was by far the largest in the list published today (27 September), which includes packaging and pollution offences. In total, donations following packaging offences will see over £895,200 paid to environmental charities.
The other donations that have followed packaging offences are:
- Ecover (UK) Limited - £22,022.29 to the Marine Conservation Society and £11,011.14 to the Canal & River Trust
- Steel Processing (Midlands) Limited - £29,000 to Forest of Mercia Community Interest Company
- Sofology Limited - £26,001 to Recycling Lives
- B S Motors Limited - £11,800 to Trees for Cities and £11,800 to Groundwork West Midlands
- MPS Builders Merchants Limited - £17,326.78 to the Marine Conservation Society
- Dejex Supplies Limited - £1,100 to Cowleys Endowed Schools Foundation and £15,011 to the Woodland Trust
- Le Pain Quotidien Limited - £13,270 to the Soil Association
- Arthrex Limited - £11,550 to the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust
- Resin Surface Limited - £9,423.24 to the Lancashire Wildlife Trust
- Panache Lingerie Limited - £8,000 to Sheffield Wildlife Trust
- Gear4music Limited - £7,350 to Treemendous York/City of York Council
- First Choice Catering Spares Limited - £7,000 to the Woodland Trust
- The Oxford Wine Company Limited - £6,650 to Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum
- Markus Products Limited - £5,250 to the Shark Trust
- ASOS.com Limited - £5,201.91 to the Canal & River Trust
- Forthglade Foods Limited - £5,000 to the Woodland Trust
- Daregal Gourmet Limited - £4,962.77 to the Woodland Trust
- Prime Surfactants Limited - £4,278.21 to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
- Monarch Acoustics Limited - £3,810 to Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
- Method Products Limited - £3,382 to the Marine Conservation Society
- Vegetarian Express Limited - £2,200 to the Woodland Trust
- CBEE (Europe) Limited - £1,476.48 to Surrey Wildlife Trust
- Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (EU) Limited - £1,360 to the Canal & River Trust
The full list of the Environment Agency’s enforcement undertakings can be found on the regulator’s website.
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There's no easy solution to include glass in the DRS while maintaining a level playing field. Potential approaches include a phased introduction of glass, potentially with higher deposits to reflect its logistical challenges. The government and DMOs could incentivise innovation in glass packaging design and subsidise dedicated return points for glass-handling. Exemptions for smaller businesses unable to handle glass might also be necessary. Any successful solution will likely blend several approaches. It must address the differing priorities of devolved administrations, balance environmental benefits with logistical and cost implications, and be supported by robust consumer education campaigns emphasizing the importance of glass recycling.