Efforts to rid our oceans from plastic pollution should focus on cleaning up beaches rather than the sea itself, according to research carried out by Eunomia Research & Consulting.

A round-up of news from the waste and resources sector, including a Resource Efficient Scotland programme, unexploded World War II artefacts, Smurfit Kappa's redeveloped recycling depot network and a Resource Futures environmental workshop.

With awareness growing of the amount of plastic littering our seas, what happens when the material enters the food web, and how does it effect what ends up on our dinner tables?

The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management has partnered with legal firm Dentons to launch a new guide on the impacts of illegal waste activities, as part of its year-long campaign to ‘Fight Waste Crime’.

SEPA is to lead three days of action aimed at tackling cross-border criminal waste activity between England and Scotland next week.

Local authorities can now issue on-the-spot fines of up to £400 to those caught taking part in small-scale fly-tipping, Defra has confirmed.

Swedish company Studsvik AB has signed an agreement to divest its waste treatment business, which generated £14.9 million worth of revenue in 2015, to French energy company EDF.

The ESA has launched ‘Right Waste, Right Place’, a campaign against waste crime, as research shows 56 per cent of UK businesses are not complying with duty of care legislation for waste.

Post-mortems of a number of sperm whales stranded on the North Sea coast this winter have found that their stomachs contained large quantities of plastic, including a 70 centimetre-long engine cover and the remains of a plastic bucket.

Firefighters in Shropshire spent yesterday attending a waste fire engulfing 100 tonnes of plastic waste that was waiting to be recycled.