The agreement to send the Clemenceau, once the flagship of the French navy, to Able UK, ends an embarrassing five-year saga that had the toxic vessel being passed around the world looking for a final resting place.  The deal to scrap the 32,700-tonne Clemenceau is said to be the biggest of its kind in Europe.

The French Defence Ministry awarded the contract to Able UK after the Environment Agency issued a waste management licence that allows the Hartlepool firm to dismantle ships and oil rigs at its TERRC facility at Graythorp.  The company is due to begin recycling work on the 780ft-long (238 metre) vessel later this year. (more…)

That’s why I love the idea behind Myhab – an eco friendly alternative to a normal tent – inspired by the thousands of tents, left behind every year, that end up on landfills somewhere. If you fancy hiring Myhab, check out their website www.myhab.com for more info, and enjoy festivals in eco style. But remember to add eco products to your festival packing list, to make your festival experience even greener. (more…)

After recycling the metal, low level nuclear waste will be taken to the nearby storage facility at Drigg.  Studsvik say the operation will be completely safe and monitored on a regular basis.

A spokesman for Studsvik, which operates similar facilities in Sweden, said it would serve the UK’s nuclear industry, whose sites are now being decommissioned under the control of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).

He said: “To meet the government’s decommissioning targets, new facilities need to be constructed to provide alternative methods for cleaning the materials that will be removed during the decommissioning process. (more…)

The plan includes building an ‘Energy from Waste’ unit - a combined heat and power plant to generate electricity for sale to the national grid and heat in the form of steam for sale locally.

A report prepared for the meeting said: “The new directive requires that the council significantly reduces the amount of biodegradable waste that it landfills, which means that the council must find an alternative solution.”

The report said the plant would take three years to build and would operate for 25 years, using waste that remained after recycling to create energy for sale. (more…)

The conference was opened by Indonesian Environment Minister Rahmat Witoelar, who said that his country was particularly exposed to the illegal dumping of toxic waste.

“Due to its archipelagic nature, with the second longest coastal line in the world, Indonesia is vulnerable to illegal traffic of transboundary hazardous waste,” he said.

The meeting is organised under the UN Basel Convention, an international treaty regulating the global trade in hazardous waste with the aim of minimising its generation and movement across borders. (more…)

South Norfolk Council was one of the first in the UK to fit the bins with such microchips, but has abandoned the £250,000 scheme after the council beleived the technology used to weigh the bins was unreliable.

Councillor David Bills said: “The data that was coming out was not foolproof and you must appreciate that if one is charging or reimbursing people based on data, that data has got to be correct 100% each day of the year.

“If it’s not, people are going to start querying it and it’s going to lead to all sorts of problems.” (more…)

1. Only use your car if it’s necessary. If the destination is close by, walk or bike it.

2. Keep your car well maintained. A poorly tuned engine can up fuel consumption by a massive 50 per cent.

3. Plan your journey. According to the RAC, British drivers waste the equivalent of 267 Olympic swimming pools of fuel going the wrong way. (more…)

The union organisation said the Government should work more closely with employers and unions to help promote training programmes for workers, make workplaces greener and invest in renewable technology.

Germany has created a renewable energy sector employing almost 500,000 workers with a turnover of 19 billion euro, while the UK employs just 7,000 employees, generating 280 million euro, said the TUC.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Our European competitors are showing that there is a lot of money and jobs in the green economy but the UK Government is barely off the starting blocks compared to countries like Germany and Denmark. (more…)

The carbon sucking devise will be capable of capturing a tonne of CO2 from the air per day, and will be small enough to fit inside a shipping container.  The initial cost of the device would be around £100,000, but this would be more than offset by the amount of carbon each unit would trap, the scientists assert.

The new invention could make the team of US scientists eligible for the Virgin Earth Challenge, where Richard Branson pledged $25 million to the inventor of a way to remove a billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year.

The team is also working on ways to dispose of the pure CO2 gas produced by each scrubber.

Lackner told the Guardian newspaper: “I wouldn’t write across the front page that the problem is solved, but this will help. We are in a hurry to deal with climate change and will be very hard pressed to stop the train before we get to 450ppm [CO2 in the atmosphere]. This can help stop the train.” (more…)

The purpose of the Best Green Companies Awards is to acknowledge, pulicise and encourage businesses and other organisations, which are striving to improve their environmental performance. 

Number one on the list is J C Atkinson and Son who manufacture coffins.  The coffins are made from paulownia, a lightweight, fast-growing wood farmed on plantations in the Far East.  The wood is ready to harvest in just seven years, compared to oak, elm and mahogany which can take up to 40 years.  Paulownia have massive leaves which soak up large amounts of C02 and other greenhouse gases.  Due to this the company has been accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council for sourcing wood from sustainable forests.  (more…)