English

A German court has backed a government plan to introduce deposit charges on non-refillable cans and bottles next year, overturning an earlier ruling to block the measures in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The German government aims to introduce a deposit of 25 cents for small containers and 50 …

Australian Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Dr David Kemp has launched a voluntary product stewardship commitment by the Vinyl Council of Australia to improve environmental performance in the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) industry. The commitment will promote more environmentally friendly practices in the production, use and disposal of PVC products …

Most people living in Scotland want to recycle their household waste but say there are not enough facilities allowing them to do so, according to a new report. However, Scotland’s actual recycling rate suggests that those surveyed in Scotland (in common with many other polls) tend to over-estimate their own …

The EU Landfill Directive requires landfill gas to be collected and used where possible. It is important that emissions to air from landfill sites are managed and monitored to control gases and combustion products that potentially impact on health, the environment or amenity. A series of guidance documents have been …

Illinois, USA can no longer deny subsidies for a trio of bond-financed waste-to-energy incinerators in the state, a judge said this week in a ruling that may allow the incinerators to seek monetary damages against the state and an electric utility. Reuters reports that Cook County Circuit Court Judge Robert …

UK Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced further important steps in the Government’s strategy to protect the environment, including action to tackle the problem of waste, and expand on the Government’s strategy for using economic measures for delivering environmental benefits. Building on its recent Budgets, the Government today announced a series …

A new report from the UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit calls for greater efforts to reduce the rate of waste growth and for more re-use and recycling to combat the country’s growing rubbish mountain. The report Waste Not, Want Not sets out a series of practical and cost-effective measures for …

Staff from the Centre for Environmental Studies in the Hospitality Industry at Oxford Brookes University are rolling up their sleeves and picking through the contents of rubbish bins at licensed premises across the district. The Glass Goes Green project, which aims to reduce the vast quantity of glass that is …

The Asahi Shimbun (a Japanese newspaper) reports on what seems to be just a cement-making process. The city of Hidaka in Saitama Prefecture now views its garbage as a resource rather than just watching it go up in smoke. So the city has done away with incinerators and ash dumpsites …

The Western Mail reports that Welsh entrepreneurs have pioneered a way to turn biodegradable household waste into an “aphrodisiac for plants”, using 32 million “workers”. With the help of millions of worms, the transformation from rubbish to fertiliser takes less than two weeks, and the company has won cash backing …