Enforcement undertakings accepted by the Environment Agency (EA) for breaches of environmental regulations have totalled £1.65 million for the past six months.

The risk posed to the waste and resources sector by Brexit has increased over the last few months, with the UK falling further behind EU standards and ambition, according to Greener UK’s latest Brexit Risk Tracker.

Chinese customs authorities have intercepted over 500,000 tonnes of illegal waste under the ‘Blue Sky 2020’ campaign and plan to continue the crackdown on illicit domestic and foreign waste imports.

Garden waste collections may be made free by the passing of the Environment Bill to improve consistency in recycling, says Environment Secretary George Eustice.

Plans to include fuels made from non-renewable materials in the EU’s renewable energy plans could undermine recycling progress, according to a new policy briefing by Zero Waste Europe, Bellona Europe and Rethink Plastic.

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has re-launched its grant fund of £1.5 million yesterday (15 June) for “imaginative projects” intending to tackle barriers to textile recycling and reuse.

Waste management company Viridor has re-won the contract to process Ealing Council’s dry mixed recycling, worth £10 million.

Louise Grantham, Chief Executive of REPIC, explores the impact of Covid-19 on the WEEE sector and how the recycling supply chain has been dealing with its effects.

Most classes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the UK must now be classed as hazardous waste or containing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) unless it can be proved otherwise, according to updated guidance by the Environment Agency (EA).

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced yesterday (8 June) that any methodology for calculating the 2020 waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) compliance fee will take the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic into account.