Porsche Cars GB has been fined £27,000 after being prosecuted by the Environment Agency over recycling.

The company admitted failing to register with the agency between 1997 and 2003 under the producer responsibility scheme. This requires all businesses with annual turnover exceeding £2m, and which produce more than 50 tonnes of packaging a year, to be registered. Companies must also provide evidence of payment for the recovery and recycling of a specified proportion of packaging waste annually.

Porsche GB told the Environment Agency it hadn’t deliberately ignored the regulations, but they had been overlooked and misunderstood.

Sue Gebbels, of the Environment Agency, says: “This prosecution serves as a reminder to all businesses to ensure that compliance with environmental legislation is not overlooked.

The money raised from compliance with this legislation goes to the recycling industry and the misunderstandings within Porsche that it has admitted mean that there was less investment in the recycling industry than there should have been.”