A community engagement project in South Bristol has vastly improved the area’s food waste recycling - by putting wheelie bins on a diet and turning food caddies into characters.

Scottish Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham proposes a ban on the sale and manufacture of plastic-stemmed cotton buds.

The UK waste and resources industry has largely welcomed the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, although calls remain for more substance to shore up the proposals.

The government’s war on plastic has been given top billing in its long-delayed 25 Year Environment Plan, with Theresa May calling for supermarket aisles to become 'plastic free' by 2042.

Effective from today, the UK’s ban on the manufacture of products containing microbeads is said by the government to be one of the ‘toughest’ bans of its kind in the world.

Ahead of a speech on Thursday detailing the government’s long-term environmental plans, Theresa May has hinted at a potential five pence charge for plastic bottles.

New research shows that David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II series was an effective catalyst for increasing public awareness of the environmental damage caused by plastic pollution.

Environmental charity Hubbub will work with coffee giant Starbucks to trial a five pence charge, while industry commenters say wider reform is needed to effect change.

In its new report, the Environmental Audit Committee has advised the government to apply a 25 pence levy to disposable coffee cups in order to recycle them all by 2023.

The UK’s first Seabin is collecting debris, including microplastics, from the water around Portsmouth’s Camber Dock.