The UK’s plastic packaging recycling rate could be 9-10 percentage points lower than official figures, according to a report from Eunomia Research & Consulting.

The UK’s leading tea brand PG Tips is switching to fully biodegradable tea bags in a bid to reduce plastic pollution, it was announced on Wednesday (28 February).

EU ambassadors have endorsed the provisional agreement on the four legislative proposals that make up the Circular Economy Package, including a target of a 60 per cent municipal recycling rate.

A five pence charge for disposable cups will be trialled by Starbucks, in partnership with environmental behaviour change charity Hubbub, in 35 stores across London.

EU-wide legislation on single-use plastic is on the cards for this summer, according to comments by the European Commission’s Vice President Frans Timmermans.

As China’s import restrictions see levels of waste plastic rise in the UK, Keith Freegard, Director of Axion Polymers, argues that low-grade materials should be landfilled rather than burnt for energy.

Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee has criticised the government’s inadequate response to its ‘Plastic bottles: Turning back the plastic tide’ report and lack of action of preventing plastic bottle waste.

A new plastic-focused campaign from the WRAP says the world is fast becoming a ‘plastic planet’ - and hopes to engage consumers to improve recycling rates in order to combat this.

Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee has pressed Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, regarding his commitment to looking at fiscal measures to reduce single-use plastics.

Proposals to tackle plastic waste in California are being approved by the Assembly’s Natural Resources Committee but coming under attack from industry lobbyists.