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Vaquita. Photo Thomas Jefferson

Scientific Committee gives first ever official species extinction warning

Photo: Thomas Jefferson We have welcomed the urgent call by experts to protect the vaquita...
blue whale

Whale fossil from Peru may have been heavier than blue whale

Scientists examining the bones of a 39 million-year-old ancient whale have concluded that it may...
Humpback whale © Christopher Swann

Humpback whales breach in synchronisation

Humpback whales are renowned for their incredible acrobatic displays, but a family in the USA...
Long-finned pilot whale

Unusual activity witnessed before pilot whale stranding

Just days after a pod of long-finned pilot whales stranded on an island in the...
All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
  • Strandings
Port River dolphins

New report reveals 100,000 dolphins and small whales hunted every year

When you hear the words ‘dolphin hunts’ it’s likely that you think of Japan or...

Minke whale hunts stop in Iceland

Iceland’s commercial hunt of minke whales has ended for this year. The common minke whale is the...

Australian Government to block Japanese whaling proposal

Japanese Government officials have reportedly confirmed that they will propose the resumption of commercial whaling...

Did Icelandic whalers really kill a blue whale?

*Warning - this blog contains an image that you may find upsetting* They say a...

Icelandic whalers breach international law and kill iconic, protected whale by mistake

Icelandic whalers out hunting fin whales for the first time in three years appear to...

Pregnant whales once again a target for Japanese whalers

Figures from Japan's whaling expedition to Antarctica during the 2017/18 austral summer have revealed that...

Doubts remain after Icelandic Marine Institute claims slaughtered whale was a hybrid not a blue

Experts remain sceptical of initial test results issued by the Icelandic Marine Institute, which indicate...

Japan set to resume commercial whaling

Reports from Japan suggest that the government they will formally propose plans to resume commercial...

End the whale hunts! Icelandic fin whaler isolated as public mood shifts

Here’s a sight I hoped never again to witness. A boat being scrubbed and repainted...

Norway increases whaling quota despite declining demand

Norway's government has announced an increase in the number of minke whales that can be...

Norway's whaling season begins

April 1st saw the start of the whaling season in Norway. Despite a widely-accepted international moratorium...

SOS alert for whales off Norway!

I have to admit to bitter disappointment when I arrived in Tromsø, northern Norway, a...

WDC joins call for legally binding targets on packaging waste in the UK

Responding to new waste and recycling figures published by the UK government today, WDC, along with 17 environmental groups co-ordinated by the UK’s Wildlife and Countryside Link are warning that the UK Government must set ambitious and legally binding targets to deal with the growing ‘packaging waste mountain.’

The call comes as the latest figures, released today, show that overall recycling rates have continued to stall and packaging waste recycling has fallen from 2013. Although the packaging waste recycling rate in 2016 had increased from 2014 (up to 71.4% from 64.1%), it is still lower than in 2013 when 72.7% of packaging waste was recycled.  The amount of recyclable packaging waste ending up in landfill or destroyed is up by 15.7% compared to 2013 – an extra 446,000 tonnes.

Key statistics from the new Defra data show that:

  • Overall recycling rates increased only very slightly in 2016 to 44.6% in 2016 up from 44.3 per cent in 2015 and down from 44.9 per cent in 2014
  • More than half (54.5%) of our waste which is recyclable ends up in landfill or destroyed – over 15 million tonnes
  • The gap between waste and recycling has grown due to stalled recycling rates with recyclable waste ending up in landfill in 2016 up 1.5% in 2016 or 226,000 tonnes from the previous year this due to the increase in the volume of waste despite the higher recycling rate
  • There is some positive news on plastics packaging recycling, with plastic packaging recycling notably up by 20% and the amount heading to landfill or being destroyed down  by 9.65%
  • However plastic and wood remain the two least recycled packaging materials with 44.9% and 30.9% respectively. This shows little movement from the previous year (2014) when rates were 37.9% and 31.4%, although wood recycling is declining every year
  • Paper and cardboard packaging waste going to landfill or destroyed in 2016 was shockingly up by 110% from 2013, wood is up by more than half (52.6%) and glass is up 3.95%
  • However plastic packaging waste ending up in landfill or destroyed has fallen almost 20%: 1,245,000 tonnes of plastic waste in 2016 down from 1,546,000 in 2013, and metal is down by almost a third (33.1%) 

With China refusing to take our plastic, cardboard and paper waste adding an extra driver, it is essential that the UK Government takes urgent steps to slash UK waste production and revolutionise recycling, to give us the capacity to deal with waste sustainably. The UK Government has stepped-up on the issue of microbeads and they need to continue being a world leader by addressing waste production and management in the UK, not exporting problems to other nations.

Last Christmas the UK Government’s Secretary of State, Michael Gove announced a four point proposal to boost recycling by:   reducing the number of plastics in use to make recycling easier; cutting single-use plastics; improving the recycling rate, and making recycling easier for families. Groups including WDC are pushing for a definitive action plan to deliver these proposals and meet the UK Government’s ambition of zero avoidable waste by 2050, including setting legally-binding targets to: 

  • Reduce single-use plastics as the foremost priority, with clear timelines and measures by which to do so
  • Invest centrally in the UK recycling infrastructure, so that all plastics and other recyclable waste can be put in every household recycling bin nationwide by 2023
  • Once a comprehensive recycling infrastructure is in place, require all packaging to have a simple recyclable or non-recyclable label, as consumers are baffled by recycling labelling
  • Lay-out targets for each 5-year period from 2025-2050 on the percentage of recyclable plastic, wood, glass, metal, card and cardboard to be recycled, working towards their 100% recycling – zero waste target by 2050. A clear action plan is needed to achieve this
  • Reform Producer Responsibility Obligations to make producers financially responsible for the costs of their waste production, as 90% of the costs of waste disposal are currently footed by the taxpayer, and to incentivise eco-design for packaging

FOR MORE ON PLASTIC POLLUTION AND HOW YOU CAN HELP, VISIT WDC’S NOTWHALEFOOD SITE.