The UK Resources Council (UKRC) is asking for input from across the resources and waste industry as it develops its proposal for a ‘Sector Deal’ between the UK resources sector and the government.
UKRC is a group made up of senior figures in the waste and resources industry, including Julie Hill, Chair of the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), former Chief Scientific Advisor to Defra Professor Ian Boyd, and representatives from waste management companies Viridor, Veolia and... More
Since the five pence charge was introduced in 2015, single-use plastic bag sales by the seven biggest retailers in England have fallen by 90 per cent, according to new figures from Defra.
Derbyshire County Council and Derby City Council appear to be seeking an end to their waste treatment contract with Resource Recovery Solutions as the company has failed to deliver on its management of the controversial Sinfin incinerator.
A new report from Imperial College London recommends that the tax on plastic packaging should be set at £150 per tonne in order to incentivise producers to include more recycled content in their products.
A forthcoming deposit return scheme could save 31,000 plastic bottles from littering Scotland’s streets, according to new figures from Zero Waste Scotland.
Boris Johnson has continued his Cabinet reshuffle by appointing Zac Goldsmith MP to the role of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Defra, while Therese Coffey has been promoted to Minister of State in the department.
The Environment Agency has said it intends to launch a ‘formal investigation’ over a cargo of contaminated waste that was exported from the UK to the Sri Lankan port of Colombo.
Rick Hindley, Executive Director of Alupro, the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation, gets his teeth into the issues surrounding deposit return schemes and their impact on aluminium can recycling.
Theresa Villiers will replace Michael Gove Environment Secretary after Boris Johnson’s extensive cabinet reshuffle following his confirmation as the UK’s next prime minister.
Defra’s response to the resources and waste consultations confirm that big changes will be on the cards for 2023, with a deposit return scheme, extended producer responsibility regime and consistency of collections all proposed for introduction by then.
The Labour Party is ‘putting ideology ahead of evidence’ with its proposal to push councils into bringing services such as waste and recycling back in-house, according to the Environmental Services Association.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced new joint business and government investment in R&D around new forms of packaging made from plants, wood chippings and food waste.
£1 million of funding has been announced by the Waste and Resources Action Programme to support business waste recycling in England as part of a larger investment package provided by Defra.
If targets in the Resources and Waste strategy are to be met, the government must provide adequate funding and allow local authorities to develop recycling strategies and collection systems that are appropriate for their communities, says the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.
A panel of environmental experts in Scotland has recommended that a 20-25 pence charge should be placed on disposable coffee cups, a policy that the UK Government has previously rejected.
Resources Minister Therese Coffey said that there was “no threat to the sustainability of kerbside collections” from a deposit return scheme as she backed an ‘all-in’ model at an evidence session of Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove has put his weight behind an ‘all-in’ DRS for drinks containers as part of a speech on the need to act on climate change, pollution and natural degradation.
A majority of the British public wants all food packaging to be made 100 per cent recyclable anywhere in the country, according to a survey commissioned by WRAP and INCPEN.
The Nigerian Government is hoping to kick off a circular economy for electronic products with support from the Global Environmental Facility and UN Environment.
