FTSE 100 firm DS Smith, which works with firms over alternatives, urges next government to match global standards

Whoever wins the UK general election must tighten regulations to reduce the use of plastic packaging, match global standards and drive “green consumption”, the boss of one of the sector’s biggest manufacturers has urged.

Miles Roberts, the chief executive of the packaging firm DS Smith, made the call to the next government as the company celebrated passing its target to replace more than 1bn pieces of plastic 16 months early.

Enlarge / ICQ in Windows 98. (credit: Samuel Axon)

After nearly 28 years in operation, messaging service ICQ will cease operations on June 26, according to its current owners.

You'd be forgiven for not realizing it still existed; the proto-IM service hasn't been in the mainstream since the 2000s. But in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it simultaneously laid the groundwork for direct messaging and social networking as we came to know it in the post-Facebook era.

28 years of history

ICQ was something of an accident, as popular as it became. Created by four Israeli computer geeks, it wasn't even meant to be the original idea.

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Studies find red, blue and green plastic decomposes into microplastic particles faster than plainer colours

Retailers are being urged to stop making everyday products such as drinks bottles, outdoor furniture and toys out of brightly coloured plastic after researchers found it degrades into microplastics faster than plainer colours.

Red, blue and green plastic became “very brittle and fragmented”, while black, white and silver samples were “largely unaffected” over a three-year period, according to the findings of the University of Leicester-led project.