Beverage carton recycling provision by local authorities has jumped from 10 per cent to 92 per cent in the past decade.

Niels Flierman, Operations Director at DS Smith Paper, explains how consistent collections stressing quality would benefit the whole supply chain.

All Pret a Manger stores in the UK will now offer a 25p discount off hot drinks when customers bring a reusable cup, following the success of a three-month scheme in London stores.

Tesco’s single-use carrier bags will be completely replaced by a ‘Bag for Life’ made from 94 per cent recycled plastic from the end of August, with sales funding community projects across the UK.

A bottle deposit return scheme is among five actions put forward by think tank Green Alliance that could help to reduce marine plastic pollution by up to two thirds, after new analysis from the think tank revealed that current government policy will only deal with two per cent of the problem.

The UK’s PRN system received a vote of confidence from Defra this month, but paper packaging producer and reprocessor DS Smith says that while the system is fine now, plans for future improvements should be considered.

The quality and quantity of Scotland’s recycling is being held back by contamination of the waste being sent to the country’s MRFs, according to SEPA.

The UK is currently on course to meet recycling obligations for all key packaging materials, according to new figures, though the potential Chinese ban on some imports could see more price volatility on the horizon.

A consortium of plastics processors and manufacturers has been awarded a £1.47-million European investment to investigate alternatives to the ‘urgent’ problem of unrecyclable black plastics.

New research from a team at US university UC Santa Barbara have discovered that humans have produced 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic since the 1950s and the advent of industrial scale production of synthetic materials.