Legislation

A Norwegian proposal to add plastic waste to the list of wastes subject to controls under the Basel Convention has gained increasing support following the 11th Meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group of the Basel Convention.

Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that the government will consider making the plastic bag charge mandatory for all businesses and raising it to 10 pence.

The Environmental Services Association has called for ‘smarter’ measures of recycling progress to replace the current weight-based metrics in a new report released on Monday (20 August).

This second round of funding builds on the government’s Litter Strategy for England and seeks innovative solutions to tackle littering.

A report from the National Audit Office has called the UK’s packaging recycling rates into question, warning that fraud and error in the PRN system are not being properly monitored by Defra and the Environment Agency.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove has been accused of “papering over the cracks” by MPs in Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee during an evidence session on the proposed Environmental Principles and Governance after EU Exit Bill.

Ministers from the UK, Welsh and Scottish Governments, as well as officials from Northern Ireland, met on 6 July to discuss plans for a collective deposit return scheme for drinks containers that would operate in all nations of the UK.

Clarissa Morawski, Managing Director of Reloop, makes the case for deposit return schemes in the fight against plastic waste.

The EU’s Circular Economy Package (CEP) has been published in the EU’s Official Journal, meaning the legislation will enter into force at the start of July, 20 days after its publication.