Man given suspended sentence must pay £100,000 for waste offences
Alan Chestnutt must pay a £101,683,66 Confiscation Order after operating an illegal waste site in Northern Ireland. Officers from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency’s (NIEA) Environmental Crime Unit (ECU) opened an investigation into Chestnutt, 53, in 2017. They discovered household, commercial and industrial waste being sorted on Chestnutt’s land in the vicinity of Cabragh Road, Bushmills. Following the NIEA investigation, Chestnutt pleaded guilty in 2023 to offences contrary to Article 4 of the Waste and Contaminated Land (NI) Order 1997. As well as the Confiscation Order, the judge sentenced Chestnutt to 10 months in prison on two counts and four months on a further count to run concurrently, suspended for…
CEI roundtable: How does language impact our efforts to be more circular?
Members of the recent Circular Economy Institute (CEI) roundtable were asked an important question: how does the language we use help or hinder our efforts to be more circular with resources and waste? At this year’s Festival of Circular Economy, we brought together voices from across industry, policy and sustainability for a powerful CEI roundtable exploring whether the language we use helps or hinders our efforts to be more circular with resources and waste? Led by circulairty expert Mark Shayler, and sponsored by VEV, the roundtable tackled several fundamental questions: are we making the circular economy sound too complex, too niche, or even too elitist – when we should be…
Final EPR base fees criticised by UK glass sector
The UK Government’s final base fees for its Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme have been criticised by the British glass sector. The EPR Scheme Administrator PackUK has published the final base fees for year 1 (2025 to 2026) of the EPR for packaging scheme. The fees will go to local authorities to help them cover the cost of recycling and disposing waste packaging materials. A portion of the fees will also be used to cover PackUK’s operating costs. Table: EPR for packaging base fees for 2025 to 2026 for all packaging materials. Material Rate (in £ per tonne) Aluminium 266 Fibre-based composite 461 Glass 192 Paper and card 196 Plastic 423…
Selling the sizzle: How does language impact our efforts to be more circular?
Members of the recent Circular Economy Institute (CEI) roundtable were asked an important question: how does the language we use help or hinder our efforts to be more circular with resources and waste? The latest Circular Economy Institute roundtable discussion – which took place alongside CEI’s Festival of Circular Economy 2025 and was sponsored by VEV – was called ‘Simplifying language and “selling the sizzle” of the circular economy’. The aim was to take a step back and look at the vocabulary we use to talk about circularity. Can our language be simpler? Could our choice of words be better? And what difference could this make? The session’s facilitator…
Welsh recycling company fined £64,000 after ‘significant fire’
A metal and waste recycling company in South Wales has been fined £64,000 for environmental offences after a fire broke out at its plant. In 2021, a large-scale fire broke out at the S L Recycling plant in Ystrad Mynach Caerphilly, after a lithium-ion battery exploded when a vehicle shell was crushed. The fire spread to the primary stockpile of scrap metal stored centrally within the yard, where around 150 tonnes of recycling material, including plastic, foam, electrical items, lead batteries, and gas cylinders, caught fire, alongside machinery. S L Recycling Limited pleaded guilty to three separate charges at Newport Crown Court in a case brought by Natural Resources…
Environment Agency launches clean-up of Kent beauty spot
The Environment Agency has begun work to remove over 30,000 tonnes of dumped waste from Hoad’s Wood in Kent. Lorries have begun to remove tonnes of harmful waste from Hoad’s Wood in Kent as part of a major operation to aid the recovery of the woodlands, the Environment Agency announced today. The operation, coordinated by the Environment Agency and carried out by Acumen Waste Services Ltd, will involve removing over 30,000 tonnes of household and construction waste from 2 acres of the 200-acre woodland. The Environment Agency has previously warned there could be unknown hazards buried beneath the 30,000 tonnes of waste. More than 50 specialist workers have been…
Celebrating circular innovation in the United Arab Emirates
Mark Siddorn, Strategic Planning and Business Performance Director at Tadweer Group, explores circular innovation in the United Arab Emirates. When we think about the circular economy, we often look at some form of transformation or movement of a circular loop. How your banana peel becomes clean energy, or how used plastic bottles are reborn as sustainable bags or t-shirts. These stories are true, to an extent, but they are only part of the picture. At Tadweer Group, we have invested in research and development since our inception, with one key focus: how we can treat waste and use its powers for good; specifically, unsorted municipal solid waste, which is…
Reuse can compete economically with single-use, Ellen MacArthur Foundation study finds
Returnable packaging can compete with the economics of single-use packaging for certain products, a new study from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has found. The ‘Unlocking a reuse revolution’ study analysed the benefits of adopting reusable plastic packaging for selected beverage, food cupboard, personal care, and fresh food items when designed collaboratively across the industry and operated at a large scale. It was developed with input from over 60 organisations, including the European Investment Bank, national governments, reuse experts and major brands and retailers – such as Danone, Nestlé, PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company, and Unilever. The study found that returnable packaging has the potential to offer ‘significant environmental benefits’, as…
Firms that use resources better, increase sales, research shows
Businesses making better use of resources are increasing their sales, according to new research by Green Alliance. The research from Green Alliance analysed Advanced Clothing Solutions, Ocado Retail, Screwfix and B&Q, Branston, Caterpillar and JCB, Project PRoGrESS, and The Greater Manchester Renew Hub. Green Alliance says the case studies and international comparisons highlight three actions that should form part of the strategy to support the growth of circular businesses. These are: Finance: Green Alliance are calling on the Treasury to introduce incentives that reward circular businesses for the value they provide to the economy. Consumer confidence: Strong regulatory standards and protections that build trust, reduce costs, and drive demand…
CIWM Members support WasteAid project in The Gambia
A team of waste management experts from the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) recently visited The Gambia to join WasteAid’s support of Operation Sanity – a local environmental initiative. The seven-day technical support visit aimed to bolster local capacity, share best practices, and develop sustainable solutions to pressing sanitation challenges in the region. Operation Sanity is a collaborative project with Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC), focused on reducing littering, improper waste disposal, and improving public sanitation through education and community engagement. The CIWM team wrote about their goals ahead of the visit. The initiative seeks to foster a circular economy by encouraging responsible waste management practices among residents and…
