China has established a year-long crackdown on the illegal smuggling of foreign waste, as it also continues to reject poorly-sorted legitimate shipments, sending 160 containers of contaminated paper recycling back to Ireland.

The growing campaign to introduce a deposit-return scheme for bottles in the UK has gained more momentum after beverage giant Coca-Cola announced its support for a Scottish trial after years of opposition.

SUEZ, one of the country’s largest waste management companies, has backed a deposit-return scheme, after reports emerged this week that officials at the Defra had said it was ‘unlikely’ that such a system would be considered as part of a forthcoming national litter strategy.

Officials from Defra have played down the possibility of introducing a deposit-return scheme for plastic bottles as part of its new litter strategy for England, according to reports.

The average percentage of target material being received by materials facilities in Wales rose by 1.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2016, the latest data published by WRAP suggests.

Staffordshire police say a fire that broke out at an illegal recycling centre on Sunday was started deliberately.

Novel materials like bioplastics and carbon fibre could be key to a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy envisioned in the government’s industrial strategy, according to environmental think tank Green Alliance.

A round-up of news from the waste and resources sector, including jail for a London fly-tipper, executive movements at WRAP, Recycle Week 2017 and Blue Peter going green.

The European Commission’s roadmap for an EU strategy on plastics in the circular economy does not get to the root of the plastics problem, according to a coalition of environmental groups.

Consumer goods company Procter & Gamble is producing a limited run of recyclable shampoo bottles made from recycled beach plastic in what it says is ‘the first major step’ in establishing a supply chain taking in plastic waste collected from beaches by charities.