Charity boost as beer importer pays up over packaging failure

The UK importer of Budweiser Budvar beer has agreed to pay more than £400 000 (EUR 470 000) to an environmental charity for failing to declare its packaging for 18 years.

Budweiser Budvar UK should have registered in 2004 under regulations on packaging waste. But an investigation by the national Environment Agency (EA) two years ago found that the company had failed to do so.  An EA press release said the company claimed it was unaware of the regulations.

Legal agreement

Following the investigation, the company has now contributed £414 003.54 to the Keep Britain Tidy charity towards its Great British Spring Clean campaign. The sum was paid as part of a legal agreement between the EA and an offender as an alternative action to prosecution or other monetary penalty.

The payment was agreed as the amount saved by the company in not recycling or recovering packaging waste, plus a penalty of 30%.

Responsibility

Jake Richardson of the EA says: ‘It’s important that businesses take responsibility for the packaging that they place on the UK market. The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations ensure that businesses such as Budweiser Budvar UK Ltd contribute towards the cost of recycling the packaging that they add to the UK waste stream.’

Budweiser Budvar UK is now fully compliant with the Packaging Regulations and has put processes in place to ensure continued compliance in the future.