A round-up of news from the waste and resources sector, including a festive food bank campaign, ID checks at HWRCs and a new CEO for Cory Environmental.

Food waste at a restaurant owned by celebrity chef and waste campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has been cut by a third after a pilot project testing a ‘smart meter’.

MEPs will seek changes to targets in the Circular Economy Package when it is sent to the European Parliament for approval, groups have stated.

Waste and resource management sectors from over 30 countries have declared their commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as the global response to climate change is addressed at COP21.

Members of the waste and resources industry have reacted to the announcement of the Circular Economy Package, questioning the ambition promised throughout its development.

The European Commission’s long-awaited Circular Economy Package has been launched, downgrading proposed recycling targets across the European Union to 65 per cent by 2030.

An ambitious circular economy package could save €3 billion a year and reduce unemployment in Europe, according to Green Alliance.

The Derbyshire town of Swadlincote has been chosen as Sainsbury’s ‘trial town’ where innovative projects to reduce food waste will be tested over the next year.

In 2014/15, waste generation in England increased by 800,000 tonnes while the household waste recycling rate crept up to 44.7 per cent, according to data released by Defra today.

Two new recycling initiatives designed to promote plastic recycling in Cornwall have been launched.