Tesco and Sainsbury’s, two of the UK’s largest supermarkets, have pledged to ban plastic cotton buds and will replace plastic stems with paper in their own brand products by the end of 2017.

A Welsh hospital group is trialling an innovative recycling process of sterilisation wrap, diverting tonnes of medical waste from incineration every month.

With at least 150 million tonnes of the plastic already polluting our seas, it’s clear something must be done. They may only be a drop in the ocean, but here are some companies creating products from ocean waste.

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

Composite materials like fibreglass are strong, durable and light. The trouble is, they’re not very easy to handle at their end of life.

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

Plastics that sub in plants for petrol are booming, with the market set to quadruple in the next five years.

The number of plastic carrier bags found on UK beaches has halved in the last year, according to results from the 2016 Great British Beach Clean.

A round up of news from the waste and resources sector including a creative writing initiative with REPIC, a recycling trial at Lord’s, reuse in Wrexham and a new appointment at Ecosurety.

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.