Boots fined over waste

BOOTS Retail (Ireland) has been fined €1,200 at Wexford District Court after pleading guilty to charges brought by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Charges were brought under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations.

It is the first case to be taken under these regulations in Ireland and the wider EU.

The retailer pleaded guilty to breaching regulations in a number of ways including failing to alert customers in-store to the fact that prices included a contribution to a producer recycling fund ensuring that WEEE is collected and recycled responsibly; failing to include the same in an ad for electrical equipment and not including the net price of the same item.

The EPA’s waste prevention unit enforces the WEEE regulations and has, since August of last year, outlined to retailers and electronics manufacturers their full obligations.

In this case, Boots was fined €1,200 and costs totalling €6,865 were awarded to the EPA.

The main aims of the regulations are to prevent the generation of electrical and electronic waste and to promote reuse and recycling of items.

Failure to comply can reduce the amount of waste electrical equipment that can be collected and diverted from landfill sites.