Strike action among North Norfolk Council’s refuse and recycling collectors has been called off after last-minute talks between members of the GMB union and Kier Environmental Services.

Funding of £1.5 million is to be made available for businesses and research institutions working in the bioeconomy in Scotland to support innovative work that will help deliver circular economy growth.

The potential for a post-Brexit shake-up of the UK’s packaging waste compliance system has been investigated in a report commissioned by the Environmental Services Association.

All five of the waste treatment facilities operated by New Earth Solutions before its sale earlier this year have been acquired by PandaGreen Ltd, Ireland’s largest waste management company, as it seeks to move into the UK market.

The amount of metal packaging being recycled by Warwick’s kerbside collection service rose by 28 per cent in the six months after the council signed up to the MetalMatters communication campaign.

LARAC, the body representing local authority recycling officers, has joined the board of OPRL, the UK’s packaging recycling label scheme – the third industry body to buy into the scheme in the past year.

European Environment Ministers have been urged to keep faith with ‘ambitious’ recycling targets for Europe after opposition emerged from countries including Germany and the UK.

A new set of guidelines on recycling is hoping to clear up once and for all what materials can and can’t be recycled at the kerbside in an attempt to remove the confusion holding back recycling the UK.

Kier Environmental Services workers have voted for industrial action following disputes over pay increases, meaning bin collections in North Norfolk could be affected.

Councils could save around £300 million every year if producers of the most littered products were made to pay levies towards their clean-up, says the Environmental Services Association (ESA).