A forthcoming deposit return scheme could save 31,000 plastic bottles from littering Scotland’s streets, according to new figures from Zero Waste Scotland.

The Environment Agency has said it intends to launch a ‘formal investigation’ over a cargo of contaminated waste that was exported from the UK to the Sri Lankan port of Colombo.

Rick Hindley, Executive Director of Alupro, the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation, gets his teeth into the issues surrounding deposit return schemes and their impact on aluminium can recycling.

Theresa Villiers will replace Michael Gove Environment Secretary after Boris Johnson’s extensive cabinet reshuffle following his confirmation as the UK’s next prime minister.

Defra’s response to the resources and waste consultations confirm that big changes will be on the cards for 2023, with a deposit return scheme, extended producer responsibility regime and consistency of collections all proposed for introduction by then.

The Labour Party is ‘putting ideology ahead of evidence’ with its proposal to push councils into bringing services such as waste and recycling back in-house, according to the Environmental Services Association.

£1 million of funding has been announced by the Waste and Resources Action Programme to support business waste recycling in England as part of a larger investment package provided by Defra.

If targets in the Resources and Waste strategy are to be met, the government must provide adequate funding and allow local authorities to develop recycling strategies and collection systems that are appropriate for their communities, says the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.

Resources Minister Therese Coffey said that there was “no threat to the sustainability of kerbside collections” from a deposit return scheme as she backed an ‘all-in’ model at an evidence session of Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove has put his weight behind an ‘all-in’ DRS for drinks containers as part of a speech on the need to act on climate change, pollution and natural degradation.