A deposit return scheme for drinks containers will be introduced in England later this year subject to the results of a consultation, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs confirmed today (28 March).

Environment Secretary Michael Gove has assured MPs that Defra will be increasing its Brexit work streams from 43 to 70 in a letter to the Chair of Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee (EAC).

The UK is set to throw away a third more single-use coffee cups by 2030, according to a new report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Eunomia Research & Consulting, which predicts the UK’s total plastic waste will increase by 20 per cent.

Changes to the Environment Agency’s charging and permits regime will come into force on 1 April despite industry concerns that this is too soon for businesses to prepare.

CIWM and WasteAid UK have called for the UK Government to increase aid for waste management in developing countries in order to prevent more plastic waste entering the oceans.

The Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP) has gained three new members representing the retail, glass and waste management sectors, including SUEZ UK’s Technical Director Stuart Hayward-Higham.

Defra’s proposed collection target for WEEE in 2018 is  lower than the missed 2017 target, triggering dismay from the industry.

Wales could be set to target an 80 per cent municipal waste recycling rate by 2035, according to Welsh Minister for Environment Hannah Blythyn at the CIWM Resource Conference Cymru yesterday (14 March).

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has criticised the government’s management and sale of the Green Investment Bank, saying it ‘failed to live up to’ its green objectives.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s announcement of a consultation on how the tax system can be used to reduce the consumption of single-use plastics has received widespread acclaim from the waste and resources industry following the Spring Statement yesterday (13 March).