A Cornish waste company is bracing itself for a raft of new business following a high profile court case brought by the Environment Agency.
Earlier this month a company in Birmingham was fined more than £30k for failing to comply with European legislation on electronic waste and product packaging.
The first prosecution was the first of its kind in the UK.
Now, The Electronic Waste Company, based in Redruth, is preparing for enquiries from other businesses concerned by the case.
The prosecution was brought under the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment, or WEEE, Regulations, which require companies to fund the cost of recycling the equipment they produce.
To operate within the law, companies which import, produce or sell electronic equipment must be members of what are known as compliance schemes.
The Electronic Waste Company runs one of just 37 such schemes in the country, and the only compliance scheme in the south west.
Simon Wilde, account manager at The Electronic Waste Company commented: “In our experience, a high profile prosecution like this always leads to new enquiries from customers worried that they could fall foul of the law.
“Despite the fact that the law has been in place for the last three years, many companies are still not aware of their responsibilities, and this first prosecution in Birmingham has highlighted the cost of that ignorance.”
