An Australian green startup has hit a landmark 15,000 individual customers for its degradable, non-plastic dog poop bags.

Unilever is trialling reuse-refill initiatives for a range of its products around the world to offer a sustainable solution to single-use plastic packaging, and reduce the amount of plastic in circulation.

Coca-Cola Amatil will make all plastic bottles under a litre, as well as every water bottle, from recycled plastic by the end of the year in New Zealand.

The UK government is investing £60m ($107.3m AUD) in a fund to research ways of reducing single-use plastics.

French manufacturer Albéa Group has taken out the brand-new Sustainability category at the European Tube Manufacturers Association (etma) Tube of the Year awards in Hamburg.

Tetra Pak has become the first carton packaging company to launch paper straws in Europe – and has released the intellectual property into the public domain.

Coles has come under fire for the return of its “Little Shop” promotion, which consumers and environmentalists have slammed as wasteful.

Pact Group has obtained government funding for sustainability initiatives in both New Zealand and Queensland, with the aim of boosting its ability to recycle.

Sidel has signed on to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, joining more than 400 organisations working towards a circular economy for plastics.

Plastic bag litter in Queensland has seen at least a 70 per cent drop since the bag ban was introduced last July, with around 900 million single-use plastic bags eliminated entirely over the last year.

Air New Zealand will more than double the single-use plastic products it is cutting from its operations this year, from 24 million to almost 55 million items.

Indonesian authorities are preparing to return at least nine containers of what it says is toxic waste sent from Australia for recycling, which was marked as non-toxic “non-B3” mixed plastic scrap.

Wellgrove and Stone & Grove, subsidiary brands of Boundary Bend, have released a new range of supplements and teas, packaged in cardboard canisters and including a QR code-based ‘trace your leaf’ solution for consumers.

The NSW return and earn recycling scheme for bottles and cans has seen its two billionth container handed in, just 19 months after the launch of the scheme, a number way above expectations.

TerraCycle has recycled more than 1.5 million coffee capsules in Australia, a weight which the company says is roughly equivalent to one and a half African elephants.

Victoria’s Richmond train station is the new front line in the war on waste, with recycled plastic sleepers installed for an 18-month trial.