The Environment Agency has used new civil sanctions against Invensys PLC, after the company broke environmental regulations.

The engineering and information technology company offered £21,000 as payment for packaging waste offences - money which will be passed on to organisations driving environmental improvements in local communities.

The company also covered the cost of the Environment Agency investigation and costs of future monitoring.

Ed Mitchell, the Environment Agency director of environment and business, said: "Civil sanctions are an alternative to criminal prosecution for less serious environment offences - such as breaking packaging waste regulations."

He went on to say: "Adding civil sanctions to our enforcement toolkit saves the Environment Agency time and money - freeing up our legal resources to prosecute more serious environmental offenders."

The new powers, which came into effect in January of this year, have so far seen 30 offers of recompense being made by companies who have broken environmental regulations.

All offers go to helping local community projects, environmental charities, and such enterprises as recycling awareness schemes.

Invensys PLC reported themselves for packaging waste offences between 1998 and 2010. I may be missing out on something here, but it sounds like 12 years of offences, £21,000 payment.

Here at BigGreenSmile we pride ourselves on taking waste packaging seriously. Where we can, we avoid it - where we can’t, we make sure it can be recycled.

Many of our household cleaners are available in 5L containers (some in massive 15L containers), not only saving you money, but also cutting down on excess packaging. And all of our rubbish bags are, of course, biodegradable.

[Image: Steve Snodgrass]