Scotland has reported a slight drop in its recycling rate to 58.9 per cent for 2017 amid an increase in total waste generated, according to official figures from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

A round up of news from the waste and recycling sector, including new contracts for FCC Environment, plans for a recycling facility in South Gloucestershire, new JCB loaders for Countrystyle Recycling and the launch of a tool to help councils assess the impact of government waste policies.

The Nappy (Environmental Standards) Bill has been launched in Parliament designed to promote the use of reusable nappies.

The government has warned waste exporters to expect delays at container ports such as the Port of Dover in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal, and says businesses should seek ‘alternative’ export, recovery or disposal routes for their waste.

An inquiry has been launched by Parliament’s Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee into the effects of the new Resources and Waste Strategy on English local authorities.

“16 full-time civil servants” will fill the environmental governance gap in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement, a situation Environment Secretary Michael Gove has described as “sub-optimal”.

Greener UK states that the ‘increasingly ominous prospect’ of leaving the EU without a deal ‘poses potentially dire consequences for the environment, in the short and longer term’ across all areas of environmental policy.

New reforms, including a deposit return scheme (DRS), could see aluminium recycling almost double if implemented, preventing around £50 million of wasted resources each year, according to a new report by environmental think tank Green Alliance.

The one-day operation last Thursday (7 March) discovered six sites where waste had been burned, three where construction and demolition waste had been stored, one that contained household waste and one that was operating as a scrapyard.

Julia Turner, Executive Director of the Wood Recyclers' Association, gives an update on the market for waste wood.