The Ocean Cleanup organisation plans to deploy a 100 metre-long floating barrier device to test passive technology designed for clearing the oceans of plastic pollution.

The UK is still on course to exceed the waste infrastructure it will need in the future, says Eunomia Research & Consulting, especially if it is to achieve the Circular Economy Package’s higher levels of recycling.

More consideration is needed before a decision can be made on a deposit-return scheme (DRS) in Scotland, Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead has said.

Andrew Bird, Chair of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC), considers whether harmonisation in recycling collections is really the way forward.

Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council is to reintroduce rear-lane recycling collections to 19 areas from January, after protests about the implementation of a new waste collection system.

Litter levels are ‘acceptable’ in 90 per cent of surveyed sites in England, though fast-food and carrier-bag litter has increased significantly in the last year, Keep Britain Tidy found in its annual Local Environment Quality Survey of England.

A family has avoided injury but was left homeless after a fire at a County Down recycling centre spread to their house last night.

A trial range of ‘wonky’ vegetables in 75 Morrisons stores, introduced after pressure from celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, has produced ‘promising’ initial results.

Waste management company Veolia has been fined £450,000 after a worker was seriously injured by a falling stack of baled waste at one of its materials recovery facilities.

A round-up of news from the waste and resources sector, including Every Can Counts, BMRA’s new Chief Executive and Christmas leftovers.