MP Therese Coffey has officially been given government responsibility for ‘waste’, reworded from predecessor Rory Stewart’s ‘resource management’ brief.

Moving rubbish to find a dropped phone, a hurried attempt to put out a fire and mistaking the roadside for a recycling centre are among the worst excuses for illegally dumping waste compiled by the Local Government Association.

Shoppers in England are set to use billions fewer plastic bags in the year following the introduction of the five pence charge in October, which has also raised more than £29 million for good causes.

A round-up of news from the waste and resources sector, including Keep Britain Tidy, Plaxx, Hanging ‘Braskets’ and Paul Vanston.

Campaigns around paper cup recycling and over-packaging of Amazon products have been met with mixed comments from the resources industry after Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall highlighted them on the BBC.

The overproduction of bread and its role in the generation of food waste has come under fire from a campaign launched by The Real Junk Food Project, an organisation that intercepts and uses surplus food.

Hugh’s War on Waste is set to return to our screens tonight, waging new wars on waste culprits Amazon and coffee giants Starbucks, Caffe Nero and Costa and revisiting FareShare to see what developments have been made.

Three companies have been selected to trial innovative ways to boost the recovery of critical raw materials from household electrical waste.

The fight against the UK’s 10 million tonnes of annual food waste is to get ‘fresh messaging’ and ‘engaging campaigns’ following the development of a ‘Joint Ambition for a Zero Food Waste Britain’ by Hubbub and Unilever.

Campaign charity Hubbub has put together three tips for cutting down on the £500 million-worth of edible food that is thrown away by Brits heading off on holiday each year.