A forthcoming deposit return scheme could save 31,000 plastic bottles from littering Scotland’s streets, according to new figures from Zero Waste Scotland.

Rick Hindley, Executive Director of Alupro, the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation, gets his teeth into the issues surrounding deposit return schemes and their impact on aluminium can recycling.

Zero Waste Scotland has released £500,000 of funding for projects that aim to tackle the blight of single-use plastic items in Scotland.

Defra’s response to the resources and waste consultations confirm that big changes will be on the cards for 2023, with a deposit return scheme, extended producer responsibility regime and consistency of collections all proposed for introduction by then.

A panel of environmental experts in Scotland has recommended that a 20-25 pence charge should be placed on disposable coffee cups, a policy that the UK Government has previously rejected.

Consumers in Scotland are spending £600 million on more than 300,000 tonnes of single use packaging for their groceries every year, according to Zero Waste Scotland.

Scotland has increased its food waste recycling by 40 per cent between 2013 and 2017, saving thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions, according to new reports published by Zero Waste Scotland.

The UK has reduced the amount of food waste going to landfill by almost two million tonnes since 2013, says a new report from ReFood, but big challenges remain before we can reach zero waste.

Northern Ireland has announced a new package of funding for local authorities to improve the quality of material collected and boost household waste recycling rates.

Sorting black bag waste at recycling centres has helped the Vale of Glamorgan cut residual waste and increase recycling.