Wales has registered yet another increase in its recycling rate to 63 per cent as its march towards achieving its statutory 70 per cent recycling rate target before 2025.

A round-up of news from the waste and resources sector including a new reprocessing contract for Casepak, new packaging made from eggshells, RCVs for students and HSBC funding for a waste start-up.

A young boy has been hospitalised and remains in a critical condition in Belfast after coming into contact with hazardous waste that had been dumped on a bonfire.

The aluminium can recycling rate has hit 70 per cent in the UK, but Alupro has warned that government ambition could 'compromise' future performance.

The EU’s main institutions will meet to discuss Circular Economy legislation for the first time next Tuesday after the European Council agreed a negotiating mandate that is believed to contain a 60 per cent recycling target for 2030.

The Conservative Party has reiterated plans for a 25-year environment plan and pledged to support better packaging and rubbish collection in a pre-election manifesto lacking any depth on resources or their management.

The Liberal Democrats have promised to support the transition to a circular economy, pledging to introduce a Zero-Waste Act and a 70 per cent statutory waste recycling target for England in their manifesto.

Shipbreaking must take place in safe recycling facilities after at least 52 workers lost their lives preparing vessels for recycling in 2016, according to the NGO Shipbreaking Platform’s annual report.

The Labour Party has included a number of environmental proposals in its general election manifesto, including measures to reduce plastic waste and safeguard environmental regulations post-Brexit.

The UK is one of a number of EU member states refusing to publically back ambitious recycling and reuse proposals ahead of final negotiations in the European Council.