Waste Management
Can I be happy throwing away biodegradable products?Guardian Unlimited | 06 Mar 2011Even with biodegradable consumables, there's no happy ending for our rubbish. There's that word again: biodegradable. It was most recently applied to the Royal Mail's rubber bands and offered up as an ameliorating factor after "£5m red rubber-band bill" headlines and allegations of littering. It is applied to all manner of consumer goods, from wool cardigans to sandwich wrappers and bin bags.
England | Environmental Awareness | Education Councils accused of complacency as rubbish left to pile upGuardian Unlimited | 04 Jan 2011A combination of severe weather and extended bank holidays has meant rubbish has been left to pile up across England. Councils have been accused of complacency over emptying dustbins as anger mounts over refuse that has been left to pile up on streets for up to a month in some parts of England. The local government minister Bob Neill said refuse removal was "one of the most basic services council taxpayers pay for" and condemned "a potentially unhealthy backlog of waste."
England | Pollution | Public Policy | Waste | Waste Management Letters: Nuclear threatsGuardian Unlimited | 15 Nov 2010Am I alone in noting that UK civil nuclear infrastructures are uniquely implicated in all four "tier one" threats identified in the recent defence white paper (Report, 19 October)? Objectively, this point is as obvious to nuclear proponents as sceptics. First, few "terrorism targets" are more...
United Kingdom | Nuclear Power | Waste Management | Water Pollution Can I throw out food and be green?Guardian Unlimited | 16 Oct 2010The diet is working, but painfully slowly. An assortment of kerbside bins and an unashamedly back-to-basics lovefoodhatewaste.org campaign reduced the girth of the nation's black sacks and the amount of food waste going to landfill by 270,000 tonnes last year. But hold the celebration. UK households still throw out 8m tonnes of waste food every year - half of which is still edible.
United Kingdom | Environmental Awareness | Education | and Public Participation Letters: Industry defeatism on bottle refundsGuardian Unlimited | 04 Oct 2010The Campaign to Protect Rural England's call to reintroduce bottle refund schemes in order to cut litter and increase recycling has received widespread support, including from the Guardian. The prime minister has promised to look sympathetically at the proposal. So it is very disappointing that industry bodies are trying to rubbish our research.
United Kingdom | Recycling | Waste Management The bins that tidy | Owen HatherleyGuardian Unlimited | 24 Sep 2010The fury such receptacles provoke is a measure of a society unable to confront the scale of its own waste. In Britain you can win a political argument by mentioning overflowing bins. Make the case as carefully as you like about the importance of strong unions, the pay and conditions of bin workers, debunk the myths of the winter of discontent - but the footage of mountainous binbags in Leicester Square, 1979, will still be the clincher.
United Kingdom | Pollution | Public Policy | Waste Management Government announces waste stategy reviewFriends of the Earth- England, Wales and N.Ireland. | 15 Jun 2010Defra announces a review of England's waste strategy. The Environment Secretary must scrap incineration subsidies introduced by Labour and invest instead in waste prevention, anaerobic digestion and increased recycling - including a 75 per cent recycling target for England and stronger packaging...
United Kingdom | Recycling | Waste Management