Harriet Lamb, CEO of WRAP, discusses her recent trip to South Africa and the innovative work WRAP is doing in the region. If you are lucky enough to visit the mountains of the Western Cape, you’ll discover that as well as supplying 97% of the water to the people of the Cape, including Cape Town city, the area hosts more plant species than the whole of England. Source: WRAP. Unique flora flourish, including the iconic flaming red fynbos, and the less famous, endemic Twee River Red Fin – which is endangered, hit by preying invasive species and the toll of spreadi ..read more

  Circular Online speaks to Carla Worth, Policy Lead at Common Seas, about plastic, policies ahead of the election, and if legislation is needed to drive the green transition. If you could only pick one policy, what would you like to see the next government implement? Carla Ward, Policy Lead at Common Seas. If the government succeeds in implementing an ambitious Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, it can act as a framework for other plastic production policies. As the policy pushes responsibility upstream to manufacturers and (ideally) makes every organisation in the value c ..read more

  58% of people hold clothing producers primarily responsible for the textile industry’s environmental and social impacts, Green Alliance polling showed. The new polling by YouGov of over 2,000 adults in Britain, conducted on behalf of Green Alliance, found 30% of people want the fashion industry to use less polluting production practices, partner with charity shops, and end the destruction of unsold or returned goods. The survey also showed 85% of respondents believe destroying unsold or returned clothing is wrong. 79% of respondents wanted to ban the destruction of these items. The sur ..read more

  Reducing the production of plastic polymers could halve associated greenhouse gas emissions over the next 25 years, according to a new report from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). According to the new EIA report “Addressing the Issue Head-On – Measures on Polymer Production in the Global Plastics Treaty”, halting overall polymer production, coupled with measures to target PVC, polystyrene, and polyurethane and placing limits on polyethylene, polypropylene and PET, could reduce annual plastic production by 64%. In the run-up to the fourth round of Global Plastic Treaty nego ..read more

  18,794 rewards were claimed as part of the digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) Scan|Recycle|Reward trial in Brecon, Wales. DDRS Alliance led the Brecon Scan|Recycle|Reward trial with support from the Welsh government, Powys County Council, WRAP’s Collaborative Change Programme, and local retailers. The trial tested technology that allowed people to digitally scan drink containers and return in-scope items through kerbside collections. As part of the trial scheme, residents could claim a 10p reward alongside their deposit when returning eligible containers. Typically, people are charge ..read more

  The Big Plastic Count found that UK households discard an estimated 90 billion plastic pieces annually, with 17% being recycled domestically. The survey found that UK households throw away an estimated 1.7 billion pieces of plastic weekly, 60 pieces per household. Snack packaging (699,932 pieces) and fruit and veg packaging (697,085 pieces) were the most commonly counted plastic items. 58% of the pieces of plastic packaging thrown away are being incinerated – up 12% from 2022. 17% was recycled in the UK, 14% was exported and 11% was sent to landfill. Commenting on the findings, Laura B ..read more

  Although environmental laws are nothing new, recent years have seen increased legislative activity as a lever to address climate change. Philip Mossop, COO at climate-tech firm Pentatonic explains how we got here, and why it’s vital to keep up with the growing raft of mandates. Laws relating to the natural environment can be traced back over 2,000 years to rules in Imperial China around hunting birds and burning forests. Ancient Rome had regulations to determine urban cleanliness, air, and water pollution. The rapid industrialisation of the 18th and 19th centuries brought significant e ..read more

  Philip Mossop, COO at climate-tech firm Pentatonic, peels away the political rhetoric to examine whether the main parties’ policies are enough to meet the challenges of the moment. UK voters will reshape the local political landscape next month through the local elections before deciding on the national picture later this year. Both the local and national elections provide the chance to frame the country’s ongoing environmental ambition for the next half-decade.  Although the UK enshrined its 2050 net zero target in 2019, the rate of progression towards this goal has been roundly ..read more

  Mark Shayler, author and circular economy expert, speaks to Circular Online about what the next government must do to transition the UK to a circular economy. If you could only pick one policy, what would you like to see the next government implement? Rewriting the Companies Act. Currently, this means that director’s responsibilities are limited to returning value to shareholders. This is defined in S172 of the Act and there is significant discussion about amending this section to embrace responsibilities to other stakeholders. This is particularly prescient in terms of climate chang ..read more

  Chief Sustainability & External Affairs Officer at SUEZ UK and past president of CIWM Adam Read speaks to Circular Online about the future of green policies ahead of the 2024 election. If you could only pick one policy, what would you like to see the next government implement? We’d like to see the government push ahead with implementing Simpler Recycling reforms in tandem with extended producer responsibility (EPR) reforms to not only drive forward the recycling of all packaging but to set the scene for other material streams that will come under EPR in the future – mattresses, W ..read more