The government published its draft legislation banning plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds yesterday (28 October), with the legislation due to come into force across England in April 2020.
Provisional packaging data for the third quarter of 2019 shows that all packaging materials remain on track to meet their 2019 recycling targets, with plastics and aluminium staging recoveries.
The British Plastics Federation (BPF) has launched a sustainable design tool, PackScore, to help brands, retailers and designers to assess the recyclability of their plastic packaging.
MP since 2017, Anna McMorrin joined Parliament with a drive to tackle the UK’s environmental issues, hitting out against single-use plastic waste and tabling a bill on extended producer responsibility for packaging. Resource finds out more
Enthusiasm to simplify the recycling instructions on packaging risks throwing the baby out with the bathwater, writes Simon Weston, Director of Raw Materials for the Confederation of Paper Industries.
Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has called on the government to focus on reducing all single-use packaging, rather than switching to alternative materials such as compostable plastic packaging.
The Scottish Government has submitted legislation for the introduction of its deposit return scheme (DRS) for beverage containers, with the scheme currently slated for a 1 April 2021 commencement date.
PlasticFreeLand™ will be exhibiting at Packaging Innovations in London this week, providing an insight into what a plastic-free future could look like.
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.
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.
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.
Paper coffee cups can have a lower carbon footprint than reusable cups, especially if they are recycled, according to life cycle research commissioned by packaging manufacturer Huhtamaki.
Members of the UK Plastics Pact have committed to removing eight problematic or unnecessary single-use plastic items from shelves by the end of 2020 and have identified a further 19 items to take action against by 2025, though campaigners say the industry’s approach is “inadequate”.
The amount of undetectable black packaging coming to market is expected to be cut by 66 per cent by the end of 2019 due to efforts to reduce the amount of black plastic used in packaging and developments in detectable pigments and sorting equipment, says industry report.
The Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP) has stated that some form of packaging compliance fee could be introduced in 2020, but that the tight legislative timetable would preclude its introduction in 2019.
Domestic markets for recycled plastics are struggling to take hold, with policy-makers scratching their heads over how to stimulate demand. Rob Cole examines the government’s proposed 'plastics tax' and asks whether it will achieve its desired outcome
The Packaging Scheme Forum has warned of a looming crisis in the packaging recycling industry, with the price of Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs) for plastic rising while recycling rates drop. Could a packaging compliance fee be the solution?
