Professor Stephen Jenkinson provides an overview of the UK’s biowaste treatment system and what the priorities for Defra should be as the UK moves towards mandatory separate collections of biowaste.

A cross-party group of 20 MPs have called on the prime minister to back an all-in deposit return scheme for drinks containers.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has released two policy papers on monitoring and evaluation of the government’s Resources and Waste Strategy for England.

Defra has begun the recruitment process for the inaugural Chair of the Office for Environmental Protection.

The European Suppliers of Waste-To-Energy Technology (ESWET) has released a policy briefing highlighting the need for any revision to the EU Waste Shipment Regulation to continue to allow the shipment of waste for energy recovery.

The UK Government will commit to a 65 per cent municipal recycling rate by 2035 after it announced it would be transposing the vast majority of the EU’s Circular Economy Package (CEP) into UK law.

Re-Gen Waste says the government’s plans to scrap the lower rate of fuel duty on red diesel will increase its fuel costs by 237 per cent, more than tripling council waste bills.

A YouGov study has found that the public is more conscious of its plastic footprint and is turning away from single-use water bottles amidst concerns over the rise in single-use plastics during the pandemic.

A new study by think-tanks Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ estimates that plastic pollution in the ocean could triple by 2040.

The EU is set to introduce a plastics tax from 1 January 2021, raising concerns among European plastics converters.