The European award for circular economy startups and innovators has launched a call for applications for this year’s competition ahead of October’s Berlin final.

Costa has announced plans to recycle up to 500 million disposable coffee cups a year by 2020, the same amount used annually by its customers.

The government hopes to launch a new Environmental Protection Act, which will include legislation for a deposit return scheme, at the start of the next Parliamentary session, Environment Secretary Michael Gove has told MPs.

One of the final hurdles in ratifying new European circular economy legislation has been cleared as the European Parliament votes through the Circular Economy Package, fixing a 65 per cent recycling target for 2035.

A new report from Friends of the Earth Europe and Zero Waste Europe argues that food packaging is not helping to prevent food waste and could in fact be creating more.

In a bid to cut waste and pollution, UK supermarket Waitrose has announced plans to scrap disposable coffee cups from all its stores, which it says will save 52 million cups from being thrown away every year.

A new method of recycling PET plastic is being trialled by global consumer goods company Unilever, PET producer Indorama Ventures and Dutch startup Ioniqa, with the aim of eventually recycling all waste PET back into high grade food packaging.

A deposit return scheme for drinks containers will be introduced in England later this year subject to the results of a consultation, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs confirmed today (28 March).

The Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP) has gained three new members representing the retail, glass and waste management sectors, including SUEZ UK’s Technical Director Stuart Hayward-Higham.

Packaging company DS Smith believes it can recycle all the UK’s coffee cup waste, which amounts to 2.5 billion cups, at its paper mill in Kent.