The events that were in contravention of regulations occurred in December 2006 and January 2007, and related to shipments of sorted green list recyclable materials to the United Arab Emirates, which were made without the correct notifications being provided to the Environment Agency.
Viridor was fully aware of this situation and proceeded with the acquisition of Grosvenor on the basis that the fundamental and substantial improvements instituted by Grosvenor would be continued and enhanced. Since the acquisition, the success of this programme has been acknowledged following inspections by the Environment Agency.
“Viridor prides itself on maintaining some of the most stringent standards in the UK for compliance and best practice and is fully committed to working closely with the Environment Agency and other regulators to achieve this,” said Tony Nicholson, Viridor’s director of environmental compliance. “With the acquisition of Grosvenor, we took on full responsibility for the challenges that organisation was facing. Accepting the charges is as much part of this responsibility as the commitment we had to complete the programmes of improvement in that part of the business. We were pleased that in the judgement it was recognised that Viridor played no part in the commissioning of these offences.”
