A donation of £61,966 to a marine charity has been made after a car parts company failed to register as a producer of waste packaging.

The financial contribution to Sea Life Trust is part of an Enforcement Undertaking (EU) offered to the Environment Agency by the German, Swedish and French Car Parts Ltd (GSF) of Fort Industrial Park, Dunlop Way, Birmingham.

The company submitted a proactive EU to the Environment Agency in November 2017; GSF company had not registered as a producer of waste packaging between 2002 and 2016 due to ignorance of the Packaging Regulations.

Company officials said they were unaware they had to register under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 and 2007.

These regulations ensure packaging materials such as cardboard, plastics and glass are recycled and do not end up in landfill.

Companies with a turnover of £2 million or more and handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging per year must ensure a certain percentage is recycled.

They do this by registering with a packaging scheme or directly with the Environment Agency and provide evidence its packaging waste has been dealt with correctly.

The money will be used by the charity to support education initiatives and clean-up events.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said:

Enforcement Undertakings allow polluters to positively address and restore any harm caused to the environment and prevent repeat incidents.

The Environment Agency is increasingly using this method of enforcement for suitable cases to restore the environment, improve practices of the offending company and avoid longer criminal court cases.

Please report any environmental issues to the Environment Agency’s 24 hour incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.

Andy Bool, Head of the Sea Life Trust, said:

This Environment Undertaking has been used to help facilitate our education initiatives, as well as deliver clean-up events to remove harmful litter from our coastlines and waterways in the UK to help protect our oceans and amazing marine life.