Warwickshire Wildlife Trust is to benefit by £35,868.12 through an Enforcement Undertaking accepted by the Environment Agency, to help environmental studies for the Tame Valley Wetlands Landscape Partnership base at Hams Hall, Warwickshire.
The financial contribution from the Enforcement Undertaking was offered to the Environment Agency by The Works Stores, a high street and online discount retailer of books, art and craft materials, gifts, toys and games, whose head office is based in Coleshill.
Enforcement Undertakings enable firms and individuals who have damaged the environment or operated outside of legislative requirements to offer to complete actions which will address the cause and effect of their offending, including making a payment to an appropriate environmental project.
The company admitted that between 7 April 2010 and 7 April 2016 it had not been registered as a producer of waste packaging due to lack of awareness of the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations SI 2007/871. The 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 which handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging per year, must ensure a certain percentage of waste packaging is recycled.
A spokesperson from the Environment Agency said: "Enforcement Undertakings allow businesses who fail to comply with legal requirements or pollute the environment to come into compliance or 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 less serious cases to restore and improve the environment, change behaviour and improve practices of the offender".
A spokesperson for the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust said that the money is being used to deliver a wide range of environmental activities, including:
