Big firms that fail to recycle face prosecution

Companies with a turnover of £1 million which fail to recycle their waste packaging in accordance with the EU Directive on Waste Management will face prosecution, a conference on waste management was told yesterday.

Speaking at the conference, organised by Repak 2000, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, said targets must be met by 2001 and 2005 regardless of market or other circumstances. "Failure is not an option and if mandatory targets cannot be achieved through Repak's efforts, I will have to introduce alternative and undoubtedly more onerous regulatory measures."

At present, companies who cannot make their own arrangements for reuse and recycling may join the Repak scheme by paying a percentage of their turnover. Repak then pays other bodies such as Kerbside, to handle the company's waste.

Mr Andrew Hetherington, chief executive of Repak, told the conference that four Irish firms are already being prosecuted for non-compliance with the directive. Mr Hetherington revealed that while the Republic had a target of achieving 25 per cent recycling of waste packaging by 2001, this was half the target level of other EU states.

The directive applies to companies with a turnover of more than £1 million which produce over 25 tonnes of packaging a year. The companies must register with a local authority each year and accept used packaging from any source and segregate it properly.

They must also collect used packaging supplied by others and either reuse, recycle or send it to Repak, which will fulfil the legal requirement. Companies joining the Repak scheme become members, paying an annual fee for the service based on their turnover.