Following an investigation by the Environment Agency, Astron was also ordered to pay £1,484 in costs last Wednesday (11 April).

The charges related to two years of non-compliance with packaging waste regulations in 2003 and 2004, long before RR Donnelley bought Astron in 2005 or it rebranded as RR Donnelley Global Document Services (GDS).

In a statement, the Environment Agency said that as a pack-filler, Astron was obliged to recover and recycle the equivalent of 37% of its packaging. The Agency said an Astron manager had claimed the firm had been unaware of the regulations at the time of the investigation.

RR Donnelley GDS was unavailable for comment.