A Leicestershire-based heritage charity has received an almost £18,000 donation from a business that failed to comply with recycling regulations.
The Environment Agency said the Bradgate Park Trust’s Jubilee Woodland project had been given a £17,600 payment from the local company Trafalgar Scientific, which provides laboratory and microbiological equipment.
The regulator said the payment was an enforcement undertaking offered by the company after it failed to register as a packaging producer and take steps to recover and recycle its packaging waste, as required by the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007.
The agency said the company had acknowledged that by failing to comply with the regulations it avoided paying the regulator’s annual registration fees and did not fund the recovery and recycling of packaging waste.
It said the company was now meeting the regulations and had made the payment to the charity as well as covering the Environment Agency’s administration, investigation and legal costs.
James Dymond, director of the Bradgate Park Trust, said: “The funding from the Enforcement Undertaking will be used to plant a new area of parkland tree planting in a field adjacent to our Hallgates car park.
“This will also include fencing, new hedgerows, field margins and interpretation.”
Jake Richardson, senior technical officer at the Environment Agency, said: “The Environment Agency is increasingly using this method of enforcement for cases to restore or enhance the environment, improve practices of the offending business and ensure future compliance with environmental requirements.
“However, we will continue to pursue prosecution where appropriate.”
Nobody from Trafalgar Scientific responded to a request for comment from Third Sector.