DHL is one of the first UK businesses to gain Environment Agency (EA) approval for its WEEE (Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment) compliance scheme. Having met the EA‘‘s comprehensive range of criteria to gain approval – including meeting strict standards for reporting systems, quality assurance, logistics infrastructure and financial stability …
Mais »Australia – waste oil crisis as recycling stalls
Western Australia faces an environmental crisis with hundreds of thousands of litres of waste oil accumulating in garages and workshops each month because a fall in demand for recycled oil has left licensed storage and processing facilities full. Thewest.com.au reports that the Motor Trade Association warned yesterday of illegal dumping …
Mais »USA – cranberry waste makes useful growing medium
They‘‘re a favorite Thanksgiving side dish, praised for their health benefits and the source of a roughly US$70 million industry. Now, Massachusetts cranberries are being lauded for something far less glamorous: their waste. The Nashua Telegraph reports that confronted with mounting piles of cranberry skins left over from Ocean Spray‘‘s …
Mais »Australia – to ban incandescent light bulbs
Australia will be the first country in the world to ban traditional incandescent light bulbs, says Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Globe-Net reports that according to the plan, yellow incandescent bulbs will be replaced by more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs by 2009. "By that stage you simply won‘‘t be able to …
Mais »China – food leftovers account for a quarter of household waste
In light of a significant increase in the amount of leftovers during the one-week Chinese New Year holiday, the Environment Protection Administration (EPA) urged the public to adopt an environmentally friendly "green diet." The China Post reports that leftovers account for around a quarter of the garbage generated by the …
Mais »India – waste-to-energy plan lashed by experts
A stream of protests has hit India‘‘s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for sanctioning municipal waste-to-energy (MWTE) projects that are collapsing under an avalanche of incombustible effluent, according to IPS-Inter Press Service, cited in Power Engineering International. "The technology of converting waste to energy from purely organic wastes …
Mais »UK – retailers agree to cut environmental impact of carrier bags by 25% by the end of 2008
The move comes in a joint initiative involving representatives from all areas of the retail sector and in response to a concerted call for action from Environment ministers in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. They have agreed to support the campaign together with the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and …
Mais »UK – waste plasterboard have viable recovery options
Studies assessing the recycling of waste plasterboard from commercial refurbishment projects have shown that it is economically viable, according to a report published and funded by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme). Key findings of the report indicate that: recovering and recycling plasterboard waste from commercial refurbishment sites is economically …
Mais »USA – fuel tank innovation means corncob waste could enable methane use in vehicles
Researchers at the Kansas City-based University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) and Midwest Research Institute (MRI) are testing an innovative alternative fuel technology in a pickup truck owned and operated by the Kansas City Office of Environmental Quality. This technology may revolutionize the capacity of natural gas to power vehicles. Current natural …
Mais »Ireland – Government to raise levy on plastic bags
Ireland‘‘s Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr. Dick Roche, T.D. has announced that the environmental levy on plastic shopping bags would be increased from 15c to 22c per bag with effect from Sunday 1st July 2007. The plastic bag levy which came into effect on 4th March …
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