Signatories of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative have released a statement calling for a ban on the use of oxo-degradable plastic packaging.

The European Commission has announced that just under €1 billion will be dedicated to the circular economy as part of the final Work Programme of Horizon 2020.

The European Parliament’s ENVI Committee has this week voted through a proposal for EU renewable energy policy to be brought in line with the waste hierarchy.

FEAD has called on the EU to implement a series of ‘pull’ mechanisms to complement the ambitious recycling and landfill diversion targets in its Circular Economy Package.

Anders Wijkman, Chairman of Climate-KIC, and Novamont CEO Catia Bastioli say standards and separate collections rather than simply ‘recyclable’ materials will create a circular plastics economy.

Resources Minister Therese Coffey says ‘ambitious’ recycling targets proposed by the EU could lead to ‘perverse actions’ being carried out to ensure enough waste is recycled, suggesting that Defra considered instructing residents to water their gardens to produce garden waste during this year’s relatively dry summer.

The UK’s waste and resources sector has been upgraded to a ‘high risk’ environmental policy area on Greener UK’s Brexit Risk Tracker, as Defra admits that the UK is likely to miss 2020 recycling targets.

Prevention and recycling must underpin the EU’s plastics strategy to reduce marine plastics pollution, according to EU Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella.

Increased refurbishment and remanufacture in the European furniture sector could create up to 157,000 jobs and save around six million tonnes of CO2 emissions, according to a study by the European Environmental Bureau.

Online sellers should be legally required to take on the duties of ‘producer’ under the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive amid accusations of freeriding, say WEEE collection and recycling associations.