Irish Distillers, the world’s largest distiller of Irish Whiskey and a subsidiary of French drinks conglomerate Pernod-Ricard, has teamed up with Lorax Compliance to assist the company to meet its packaging waste fee-paying obligations.
The Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 2007 require Irish Distillers to pay fees on the amount of packaging it places on the market. In Ireland, these obligations are shared across the supply chain to distribute the cost of compliance.
Irish Distillers is therefore required to meet the company’s obligations as the converter, brand holder, distributor and retailer of over 800 products. This includes the famous Jameson whiskey, which sells millions of cases globally each year. The company must complete bi-annual reports and pay the resulting fees, which are charged per material, to Irish packaging compliance scheme Repak. The report requires detailed specification of packaging placed on the market in addition to discarded packaging as part of the product sales process.
Ensuring all data is accurately submitted on time during the bi-annual reporting cycle is crucial to avoid over payment and the risk of penalties. Both rigorous data analysis and record keeping are essential to easing this highly complex process.
By outsourcing this task to Lorax Compliance, Irish Distillers benefits from the team’s in-depth knowledge of both Irish and EU regulations and reporting structures, as well as the company’s bespoke SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) cloud-based technology software to calculate its fee paying obligations. Lorax uses the data within Irish Distillers’ sales files and bill of materials (BOM) to analyse and calculate the company’s fee paying obligations.
Paul Whelan, packaging development manager at Irish Distillers, said: “Our partnership with Lorax is key to ensuring we meet our environmental obligations across the supply chain for hundreds of products. Our level of product sales means we are heavily obligated, so ensuring accurate environmental compliance is crucial for our company.
“The Lorax team is extremely knowledgeable about packaging waste legislation in Ireland. In addition, their responsiveness gives us the confidence that all our obligations are successfully reported accurately and on time.”
Graham Margetson, CEO of Lorax Compliance, added: “We’re delighted to be working with Irish Distillers. As a company which has a wide span of compliance responsibility across the supply chain, Irish Distillers needs a supplier which can handle and process large sums of data quickly and expertly in order to accurately analyse data and guarantee the company successfully meets its reporting obligations. Failure to meet reporting obligations on time and the provision of inaccurate data can be costly both in terms of having to resubmit data and incuring penalties. Our expertise is enabling the company to quickly meet its compliance goals in a structured and hassle-free process.”
In the Republic of Ireland, companies with a turnover of more than a million euros and which place 10 tonnes or more of packaging onto the Irish market must comply with the Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 2007. Packaging materials must be reported by tonnage, and fees paid on the amount produced.
