Two ink cartridge firms have handed a conservation charity in Birmingham £5,000 after breaching Environment Agency regulations around packaging and recycling.

Both firms, Unielectronics and G&Z Trading, are based in Solihull and have made the contribution to Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

Unielectronics has agreed to pay the charity £5,060 after failing to register under the Environment Agency’s packaging regulations between 2014 and 2018.

Meanwhile G&Z Trading, which supplies cartridges under the name Printing Pleasure, failed to register between 21017 and 2018 and has paid the charity £1,000.

The money will be used to fund the charity’s Alan King Alpine Garden project, which protects and showcases rare plants and flowers.

“As a charity we receive no regular public funds and are hugely grateful for support from the Environment Agency and charitable donations that help us preserve Birmingham’s unique heritage site and Gardens for future generations,” said the charity’s development director Elizabeth Frostick.

“The Alan King Alpine Project has involved the building of two climate-controlled secure and accessible glasshouses and creation of a rocky alpine environment providing a unique opportunity to learn about endangered habitats under threat and importance of the conservation of plants.”

Environment Agency senior technical officer Jake Richardson added: “Any company handling more than 50 tonnes of packaging a year, and with a turnover of above £2 million, must register with the Environment Agency or a packaging compliance scheme, and meet their responsibilities for recycling waste packaging.

“If a company fails to meet their obligations under environmental law, we will take action to ensure they change their ways.”

He added: “Enforcement Undertakings enable businesses to address historical non-compliance under the Packaging Regulations, through a series of actions that ensure future compliance and a financial contribution to a suitable environmental project.”

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