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Food companies are using bright colours and cartoon characters in an “unethical” effort to manipulate children into wanting the sweets and crisps they make, a report has claimed.

Bite Back, a campaign group that is part of the chef Jamie Oliver’s empire, asked nutrition experts to analyse 262 sweet food products sold in the UK with packaging likely to appeal to children made by the 10 biggest food companies.

Oliver has accused food manufacturers of deliberately using packaging that is designed to “capture young minds” in order to sell more junk food.

The meeting of the ministers, held in Sydney on 21 June, considered the growing challenge of soft plastics, and industry’s slow progress to re-establish in-store collection since the collapse of the REDcycle scheme. 

Ministers discussed progress on the Commonwealth’s new National Circular Economy Framework, due to be finalised by December 2024, and which will drive a faster transition to a circular economy and ensure efficient use of key resources and materials in Australia.

Plastic Ingenuity, a provider of sustainable thermoform packaging, has developed a free online course on Thermoform Circularity as part of its new Good Information continuing education series. This in-depth course is designed to help industry insiders learn more about the principles of thermoformed packaging and how thermoforming can impact sustainability initiatives.

A second time this month, two whiskey bottles were produced before the Chief Justice of India at the Supreme Court, during a hearing related to the trademark violation row between two liquor companies.

The two bottles were first produced before the top court on January 5, when a three-judge bench, headed by the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud was hearing an appeal against the Madhya Pradesh High Court order that rejected liquor company Pernod Ricard's appeal to prevent an Indore-based company, JK Enterprises, from manufacturing beverages under the 'London Pride' name.

Heather Church is a waste reduction and recycling specialist with the Washington State Department of Ecology.

“Food service products generally means cups, bowls, plates, trays and clamshell containers made from polystyrene foam,” she explained. “These containers won’t be available in takeout but you also won’t see them in grocery stores.”

In 2021, state lawmakers approved the law banning the distribution of EPS containers deemed harmful to the environment.

The Composting Consortium, an industry collaboration led by the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners, New York, has releases a report on whether or not certified, food-contact compostable packaging really breaks down in composting facilities. The report, Breaking it Down: The Realities of Compostable Packaging in Composting Systems, shares findings from an 18-month study on compostable plastic and fiber disintegration in diverse, in-field composting conditions.

In putting forward its offer to the British public, Labour has said it ‘is committed to reducing waste by moving to a circular economy,’ while offering no specific measures on what this will look like.

The manifesto also pledges to allocate £1 billion to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture technology, which comes at a time when the waste industry is heavily investing in carbon capture solutions.

In a complaint, L’Oréal South Africa alleged that Nutriwomen's Dermacare range packaging imitated the distinctive elements of L’Oréal's Cerave skincare products.

L’Oréal South Africa, through its legal representation ENS Africa, contended that Nutriwomen's Dermacare packaging closely resembled Cerave's, including fonts, and product design.

The company argued that Dermacare "copies" its colours and product range descriptors.

Sprite today (April 18) revived its iconic “Obey Your Thirst” tagline with a campaign that pays homage to the original 1994 effort that established the brand’s ethos. The Coca-Cola brand’s latest campaign enlists NBA player Anthony Edwards and sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson — the brand’s first woman athlete partner — and spans TV spots, packaging, sports partnerships and a digital experience.

The Copenhagen Municipality’s urban environment department (Teknik- og Miljøforvaltningen) has announced the launch of a new scheme it says could promote the use of recyclable takeaway packaging.

This will be done using a special fund which the city government will use to support restaurants and businesses which decide to switch to using recyclable packaging, Copenhagen Municipality said in a statement.

The scheme will run as a two-year trial with a budget of 1 million kroner in both 2024 and 2025.