A vital knowledge gap about England’s environment has been uncovered by soil campaigners. They have discovered that just 0.41 per cent of the cash invested in environmental monitoring goes on examining the soil. That’s despite the fact that soils round the world – including in the UK – are said to be [...]
A new report by international development and relief agency Tearfund claims that single-use bottles, sachets and packets produced by the companies are being burnt in developing countries at an alarming rate and contributing to the climate crisis in the process. The Burning Question report found that the four global companies create enough plastic pollution [...]
Around 50 per cent of the five million tonnes of plastic currently in circulation throughout the UK each year is used for packaging; maybe a quarter of which gets recycled. This compares pretty well with the proportion of waste to consumption worldwide, which could be as much as 90 per cent of [...]
The petrol-powered motor was first invented in 1885, however, it took until 1913 to become mass produced and cemented as a cornerstone of daily life. The replacement of the horse and carriage with the car was revolutionary. However, the development of the infrastructure to ensure cars would, for example, always be within [...]
ReFood is calling for “rejuvenated government support” in its national drive to nationally ban food waste from landfill. Having lobbied for a UK-wide ban since launching its Vision 2020 roadmap in 2013, ReFood says that achieving this ambition will be “impossible” without decisive legislative support. “With UK landfill sites now at bursting [...]
The global economy is consuming 100 billion tonnes of materials a year for the first time ever – but reuse of resources has gone into reverse, according to a new report. Launched 21 January in Davos at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, The Circularity Gap Report 2020 suggests that [...]
“While we need to import fossil raw materials, renewables just grow around the corner in our meadows, fields and forests.” The German government has set out plans to accelerate its low-carbon transition by investing €3.6 billion in projects that help to strengthen its bioeconomy and create a market for bio-based products. The Ministry [...]
The World Economic Forum will be attended by speakers such as Greta Thunberg, Donald Trump and Angela Merkle in a bid to shape global agendas and work towards a cohesive and sustainable 2020. The compostable packaging manufacturer was named as a ‘Technology Pioneer’ by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2019. Nissenbaum [...]
We hope you’ve all had a lovely break over the Christmas holidays and New Year – meanwhile the bioeconomy has remained busy! The plans for a European Green Deal have been unveiled, promising to develop a regulatory framework for biodegradable and biobased plastics, among other initiatives. It also includes a legally binding [...]
The beach at Muncar on the island of Java was revolting. The 400-yard wide, mile-long stretch of sand was feet deep in foul-smelling sauce sachets, shopping bags, nappies, bottles and bags, plastic clothes and detergent bottles. Bulldozers had cleared away and buried some of the huge mat of plastic and sand two [...]