This week saw members of the waste and resources industry from across the country descend on London for two days of discussion on the sector's hot topics. The EU referendum, the future of food waste, the Circular Economy Package and producer responsibility were all on the agenda. Here are some of the things that we learned.

‘Small changes can have enormous environmental and economical benefits’ says Environment Secretary after analysis shows that half of the waste in Welsh bins is recyclable.

A food waste disposal and recycling firm has been fined £250,000 for breaches that saw three employees overcome by toxic gases, less than a year after paying £660,000 following the death of another worker.

Food redistribution charity FareShare received enough surplus food from retailers and food manufacturers to provide 18.3 million meals in 2014/15, but says that charities 'urgently' need more food made available to them.

M&S has reduced its stores’ food waste by nine per cent through its charity redistribution schemes, according to its 2016 ‘Plan A’ report.

The REA and LARAC have resolved their differences and jointly called for industry and local authority collaboration in the search for improved government policy around food waste collections.

WasteAid UK, a charity helping to establish waste management processes in developing countries, has won a National Energy Globe Award for its work in The Gambia.

A framework aiming to provide businesses and governments with a consistent and reliable method of measuring and identifying food waste has been launched by a global partnership.

The European Parliament’s Environment Committee has today set out its desired amendments to the Circular Economy Package, including increased recycling targets, the removal of TEEP exemptions to the separate collection of materials and mandatory separate food waste collection.

The European Commission is to propose a common methodology to measure food waste ahead of targeted EU action, says Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella.