The supermarket giant has allegedly dropped its ‘Waste Less, Save More’ food waste reduction initiative after its trial in the town of Swadlincote produced poor results, claiming its ‘customers’ priorities had changed’.

Six innovative bio-based products using materials including cellulose, soy beans and watermelon sugars are on the shortlist for the 2018 Bio-based Material of the Year award.

Northern Ireland’s recycling rate for the last three months of 2017 has jumped to 47.1 per cent, an increase of five points on the same period in 2016, which Daera attributes to new food waste regulations.

JD Wetherspoon contracts waste management company Veolia as it seeks to divert 11,500 tonnes of food waste from landfill per year.

Woolcool is a packaging innovation for the transport of temperature-sensitive items from the food and pharmaceutical sectors, using wool in place of polystyrene, bubble wrap, gel packs or other non-recyclable insulating materials.

A new campaign by food redistribution charity FareShare wants the government to set up a £15 million fund to cover the costs of getting surplus food to those in need.

Organic waste treatment specialist Advetec has announced it will be investing £600,000 in new laboratories and staff in order to expand its operations and target the digestion of plastic waste.

Behaviour change specialist Hubbub has launched a new partnership with Compass Group UK & Ireland and commercial kitchen food waste app Winnow to reduce the amount of food thrown away in corporate and university restaurants.

The European award for circular economy startups and innovators has launched a call for applications for this year’s competition ahead of October’s Berlin final.

One of the final hurdles in ratifying new European circular economy legislation has been cleared as the European Parliament votes through the Circular Economy Package, fixing a 65 per cent recycling target for 2035.