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De Bortoli Wines cops packaging fine
UK wine importer De Bortoli Wines has been fined £8,300 by the Environment Agency for failing to comply with waste packaging regulations.
The hefty fine covered £2,128 worth of costs and £1,686 for compensation.
The importer pleaded guilty to the nine offences filed against it, including failure to register, recover and recycle.
As a company that produces more than 50 million tonnes of packaging annually and with a turnover greater than £2m, De Bortoli is required to recover and recycle a percentage of waste packaging.
Another offence included a failure to produce a “certificate of compliance” for the Agency. De Bortoli had failed to register with the Agency for 2005, 2006 and 2007 – saving the importer registration fees of an estimated £5,022.
John Thorne, UK manager at De Bortoli Wines, said: "We readily accepted our mistake in this matter and have paid our penalty accordingly.
“As soon as we became aware of our breach of the rules we took immediate steps to register under the Packaging Regulations and ensure our compliance.
“We are committed to minimising the impact of our business on the environment and welcome steps to encourage recycling."
De Bortoli is based in Dorset and supplies wine for retailers and wholesalers, importing from its parent company in Australia.
Tessa Bowering, senior environment officer for the Environment Agency explained: “It is important that businesses handling packaging register with the agency or join a compliance scheme as this helps with recycling and reduces the amount of waste going to landfill.”
Marinel FitzSimons, 15.09.2010