English

Australia’s Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Dr David Kemp, has welcomed progress being made to develop a national response to plastic bag waste. Following separate meetings of the national plastic bags working group and the National Packaging Covenant Council in Canberra, Dr Kemp said it was pleasing to see …

The coalition agreement emphasises the positive influence that the shift to sustainable energy can have on employment. The coalition partners reiterate their commitment to existing policy measures including the Renewable Energy Law, the Combined Heat and Power Law and offshore wind targets. The new Government will review the Renewable Energy …

INFORM, Inc., a US national environmental research organisation, has released the first comprehensive study of the nation’s estimated 179,000 garbage trucks. Much of this fleet, one of the oldest and most polluting in the nation, is operated by (or under contract to) local government agencies or is under contract to …

Proposed amendments to the European Packaging directive, the new waste electronics directives, and new mercury laws passed in US states will make package labeling more complex, according to a new report Green Labeling: Global Guide for Marketers in the New Millennium from US consultants Raymond Communications. The report finds, for …

The TV coverage of UK waste policy last week might lead one to believe that the forthcoming policy review by the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit is ready to issue its much awaited report. This is a report from the BBC, which carried extensive interviews with Environment Minister Michael Meacher and …

John Lieberman and Jim McKenna got so annoyed by the stream of promotional CDs they were getting in the mail from America Online Inc. that they wanted to give the Internet service provider a taste of its own mass-mailing practice. The two men from California have set up a website …

A consortium of plastic carrier bag manufacturers and distributors has been created to undertake a PR offensive which aims to show that the carrier bag is the best environmental choice that consumers can make. With a website (www.carrierbagtax.com) in place offering a range of information, it is clear that the …

In Europe, manufacturers will have to pay for recycling electrical goods ranging from refrigerators to laptop computers under an agreement reached recently by negotiators from European Union (EU) governments and the EU’s parliament. AP news service reports that the European Commission, estimates that old appliances account for about six million …

China is to introduce preferential tax policies for electricity generated from municipal waste. Waste Management World reports that China is to introduce a policy by which 100 per cent of the VAT will be refunded to the generator for selling electricity generated from the municipal waste to the grid. At …

Innovative trials to find the best way to collect waste for composting in the UK have been launched by Avon Friends of the Earth, Bath & North East Somerset Council and SITA Environmental Trust. The project involves more than 3,000 homes in Bath & North East Somerset and will be …