A campaign aimed at reducing waste pollution in our oceans and on beaches has been given a boost of more than £24,000 after the Environment Agency accepted an enforcement undertaking from a group of companies for failing to comply with waste and recycling regulations.

Angel Springs Holdings Ltd of Wolverhampton, subsidiary companies Angel Springs Ltd and Fillongley Spring Water Ltd had failed to register between 2009 and 2016 under regulations covering packaging waste.

Fillongley Spring Water Ltd joined the group in 2014 and Angel Springs Ltd also failed to comply with packaging regulations between 2009 and 2013.Therefore Angel Springs Holdings Ltd failed to comply with packaging regulations on behalf of the group between 2009 and 2016.

Now, following agreement with the Environment Agency, Angel Springs Holdings Ltd has given a sum of £24,329.54 to the Marine Conservation Society, for the breaches by its two subsidiary companies. The Marine Conservation Society, is a UK charity working solely to protect the sea, shores and wildlife that lives in and around them. The money will be used to support the charity’s Bincentives campaign in schools around the country and through social media.

Environment Officer with the Environment Agency, Beth Haste said:

Enforcement Undertakings offers are an effective enforcement tool used by the Environment Agency, to enable companies to address historical non-compliance under the Packaging Regulations, through actions that will ensure compliance with the relevant legislative requirements and support for suitable environmental projects, without attracting a criminal record.

The Packaging Regulations require companies which annually have a turnover of more than £2 million and handle 50 tonnes or more of packaging, to take responsibility for packaging when it becomes waste.

We believe the contribution to the Marine Conservation Society’s Bincentives schools environmental education project will support the principles underpinning the Packaging Regulations.

Rochelle Ferguson, Trusts and Grants Manager with the Marine Conservation Society, added:

The Marine Conservation Society is so grateful to have received support towards our education programme, more specifically, towards Bincentives which is designed by children, for children, to provide an incentive to do the correct thing with their litter. As an anti-littering resource for secondary schools, Bincentives is a valuable educational tool for raising awareness of the issues of littering with a hard to reach age group.

The campaign is self-led, giving students the responsibility for taking charge of the issue and the poster design is appealing to the age group. Bincentives has proved popular with schools, with over 250 schools downloading a copy so far.

The full list of Enforcement Undertakings is now available on this page.