Sometimes there are bioplastics where you least expect them. Here are a few examples of plant-based materials bringing sustainability to the mass market.

Costa Coffee is launching a nationwide recycling scheme to recover and recycle more of its takeaway cups, but only those that have been left in stores.

The German city of Freiburg is pioneering the new ‘Freiburg Cup’, a reusable coffee cup, to reduce single-use takeaway waste.

New research by Zero Waste Scotland has revealed that nearly 1.35 million tonnes of food and drink was wasted in Scotland in 2013, a figure that will be used as a baseline for efforts to reduce food waste by a third by 2025.

Fifteen US companies have pledged to reduce their food loss and waste by 50 per cent by 2030.

The Department of Health has announced that it will review the impact of marine microplastics on human health, in response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s inquiry on microplastic pollution.

REnescience Northwich, a facility using innovative enzyme technology to separate household waste from recyclable materials and generate energy at the same time, will open next year, Danish firm DONG Energy has announced.

Industry groups have both supported and criticised Waste Minister Therese Coffey’s move to reject a proposal by the Liberal Democrats to bring in a 5p charge on disposable coffee cups to reduce waste.

The government has once again ruled out the possibility of imposing a 5p charge on disposable coffee cups handed out at high street retailers after calls by the Liberal Democrats.

A round-up of news from the waste and resources sector, including new appointments at Biffa and Cromwell Polythene, and the opening of a new EfW facility in Buckinghamshire.