Having been the world's main recipient of plastic waste for thirty years, China banned the import of most residential waste in 2017 (reducing imports from 581,000 metric tonnes in February 2017 to just 23,900 metric tonnes in February 2018). This has had a significant impact on other countries around the world, which are having to find alternative method...

​France has just introduced extensive new legislation ​(link in French) on waste management and the circular economy (the concept of ​​​designing the economy to minimise waste and pollution and to keep resources in circulation). Among many other measures, the new legislation introduces additional EPR schemes for products including waste from food vendors,...

​The UK Government is trying again to get its Environment Bill passed into UK law.The Bill introduces a wide range of measures, including the establishment of a new Office for Environmental Protection, changes to the current system of producer responsibility and the ability to impose charges for single use plastic items (e.g. disposable cups) in addition ...

As someone completely new to the industry, I wasn't sure what to expect from the RWM Conference. In fact, there was such a wide range of topics and presenters that it gave a surprisingly accessible overview of the issues facing us at the moment, particularly when I was able to attend multiple talks and panels on similar themes. Wednesday's panels by John ...

Earlier this year, the French Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition released their Circular Economy Roadmap (FREC) which is an operational transition from a linear ‘make, consume, throw' economic model to a circular model that integrates the entire product life cycle. This covers ecodesign, management of waste, consumption and reduction of wast...

In an Environment Audit Committee session with Michael Gove, the Secretary of State was quizzed on the future of environmental standards following Brexit. Gove reaffirmed that the Government wants to enhance or even increase the level of environmental standards currently in place, although the Committee insist that following the publication of the Governm...

The Environment and communications references committee has made many recommendations to the Australian government concerning the waste and recycling industry. Following evidence and comments from the industry, proposals have been submitted relating to the establishment of a circular economy; prioritisation of the waste hierarchy; the phasing out of petro...

EU BudgetOn 2nd May​​, the EU announces its budget for 2021 – 2027. The budget includes a section on modern sources of funding for the EU. On account of Brexit, there is a resulting net loss in the EU's budget and furthermore new EU priorities require new investment. The Commission has proposed to fund these through a combination of fresh money (80%), red...

On the 8th March, the European Parliament published amendments to the Cohesion policy and the circular economy draft opinion​. ​​​​​The amendments include numerous changes and several new paragraphs concerning implementation of the circular economy in Member States and the impact of China's new restrictions. The amendments bring​ a focus onto the need fo...

​Back in August Dual Systems, otherwise known as compliance schemes, Der Grüne Punkt, BellandVision and Interseroh released a statement to announce that they are terminating their clearing agreements. They stated that some systems are repeatedly failing to meet their obligations and that new clearing agreements ensure fair competition and an equitable tra...

There's a wealth of knowledge about the negative effect plastic waste has on the environment. This blog seeks to uncover what the problems are and how governments and industry can stop it from getting worse. The problemRecently it seems that we have been overwhelmed with devastating facts and figures concerning the negative impact of plastic waste on our...

Last month our blogs focussed around disposable coffee cups and the amount of waste they produce in landfill, and in June we looked at the effect plastic packaging is having on our oceans. There is currently considerable publicity surrounding these topics and the media is quick to notice the environmental effects and their social issues. However, it's imp...