A Thermal Conversion Installation (TCI) has been opened at AVR-AVIRA in Duiven, the Netherlands. This installation transforms residual material from the paper industry into a base material for the building trade, Topcrete. This technique is claimed to be the first of its type in the world. The TCI is an …
Mais »De-coupling – ensuring economic growth without damaging the environment
At a recent seminar in Copenhagen, European environmental experts discussed how to de-couple economic growth from exploitation of resources and damaging impacts on the environment. De-coupling has come into focus in international environmental work in recent years, as there is a large political wish for ensuring economic growth without damaging …
Mais »World share of renewables to shrink until 2030, predicts IEA
Not waste per se, but interesting still as this gives a good global picture of the renewable energy scene with projections. The share of renewable energy in the world’s primary energy supply will continue to decline over the next 30 years, according to the International Energy Agency. Renewables contributed 13.8 …
Mais »The use of second hand car components in car fleets
Environmentally friendly solutions and economic benefits are not incompatible. This is what the RESPECT-project, supported by the EU LIFE-Environment aid programme has proved. The main goal of the project was to demonstrate that the re-usage of car parts on a large scale is economically, ecologically and technically possible. Nearly 80 …
Mais »Welsh worms win waste work [Always avoid alliteration!]
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 …
Mais »City in Saitama cements plan for ultimate trash disposal
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 …
Mais »Glass goes Green – whatever the colour
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 …
Mais »Most Scots want to recycle rubbish but cannot, survey claims
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 …
Mais »Australian PVC industry steps up environment commitment
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 …
Mais »UK Cabinet Office strategy unit report calls for a focus on waste reduction and more recycling
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 …
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