Edinburgh councillors have approved a comprehensive action plan to improve the city’s waste and cleansing services following a drop in customer satisfaction.

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.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has partnered with the International Baccalaureate to work on embedding circular economy teaching into the IB curriculum.

Funding of £400,000 from the Northern Irish carrier bag levy is to be made available to support small-scale environmental projects aimed at improving the local environment and boosting civic pride, ahead of a review of the charge next year.

Celebrity chef and waste campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has accused brands of ‘greenwashing’ responses to the burning issue of coffee cup waste, criticising in particular a campaign to increase high street recycling of takeaway cups.

Funding of £1.5 million is to be made available for businesses and research institutions working in the bioeconomy in Scotland to support innovative work that will help deliver circular economy growth.

Defra has launched a consultation on which of two proposed WEEE compliance fee mechanisms should be used, if any, for 2016.

The potential for a post-Brexit shake-up of the UK’s packaging waste compliance system has been investigated in a report commissioned by the Environmental Services Association.

The amount of metal packaging being recycled by Warwick’s kerbside collection service rose by 28 per cent in the six months after the council signed up to the MetalMatters communication campaign.