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It all started when the Queen agreed to work alongside fellow 91-year-old Sir David Attenborough on a conservation documentary dealing with wildlife in the Commonwealth.

She became personally interested in the damage to oceans caused by dumped plastic.

One thing led to another, and the Queen has now declared war on plastic, banning straws and bottles from the Royal estates.

Buckingham Palace has outlined new waste plans, which will include gradually phasing out plastic straws and bottles in public cafes and banning them altogether in staff dining rooms.

Internal caterers at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh will now only be allowed to use china plates and glasses, or recyclable paper cups.

Takeaway food items in the Royal Collection cafes must also now be made of compostable or biodegradable packaging.

As well as the Queen’s interest, The Prince of Wales also regularly speaks about the damage to the oceans caused by dumped plastic and recently warned that the world was facing an "escalating ecological and human disaster" from refuse in the seas.

Buckingham Palace is currently undergoing a 10-year refurbishment program which will make the royal residence far more green, The Telegraph reported.

Food & Drink Business

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) has released its Towards 2030: A food and grocery snapshot, an assessment of the food and grocery manufacturing sector following the Sustaining Australia: Food and Grocery Manufacturing 2030 report released in 2020.

The federal government has granted $1.5 million to the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), to strengthen food safety and alcohol surveillance in Laos, following the methanol poisoning deaths of two Australian citizens in November 2024.

Woolworths Group delivered a stronger first-half underlying earnings result, with group sales up 3.4 per cent to $37.1 billion and EBIT up 14.4 per cent to $1.66 billion for the 27 weeks to 4 January 2026.