Which Laws Have UK Companies Broken?

As concern for the environment grows, there are more and more laws and regulations being put in place to reduce our contribution to pollution and climate change. Because of the huge contribution of big companies to the problem, it’s understandable that a lot of the laws apply to them. But what happens when those laws are broken? Read on to see which laws have been broken by UK companies.

Six figure sums

In total, British companies have paid over £1.5 million in fines. Why? According to the Environmental Agency, the culprits have broken “environmental laws” by polluting rivers, breaching permit conditions or avoiding recycling.

From the total of 26 enforcement undertakings, the lowest payment was £1,500 by Bartlett Contractors for discharging poisonous matter. But there were also six companies listed with six-figure fines:

• Northumbrain Water – Fined £375,000 for pumping raw sewage into the River Tyne
• Filippo Berio UK – Fined £253,906.91 for not recycling their packaging waste
• Anglian Water Services – Fined twice to the tune of £100,000 for causing pollution incidents and consequently killing fish
• Heineken UK – Fined £160,000 for killing fish by polluting waters
• Kerry Ingredients – Fined £127,975 for causing pollution which killed fish
• Sandoz – Fined £120,932.23 for their failure to recycle packaging waste

Where is the money going?

Totalling £1,564,761.09, the money will be given to 30 charities and projects. As a way of counteracting the negative effects of the companies – polluting water and avoiding recycling – the charities are all environment-based. They will use the money making “a direct positive impact on the environment” by cleaning rivers, restocking native species into these rivers and investing in parkland for local communities.

“The principle that a polluter should make amends for the damage they’ve caused makes good sense,” says Stephen Trotter, Director of The Wildlife Trusts England. “We all depend on a healthy environment and this positive scheme allows some natural improvements to be funded which otherwise wouldn’t happen. Clearly it would be better if these incidents hadn’t happened in the first place – but at least something positive has come out of it”

Looking to the future

It isn’t just payment either. The companies have also had to accept liability for their wrongdoings and act to prevent it reoccurring. But how can we tell how bad water pollution is? According to Dr. Simone Hasenbein, there is room for improvement in the methods used to detect pollution in water, as discussed in ‘Waters are more polluted than tests say: Standard toxicity analyses come up short’.