By admin on May 18, 2008 | In Featured, Environment, News, Energy, Products | No Comments »
The famous black taxi of London could soon get a green makeover with the news that Manganese Bronze, the Coventry-based maker of the black cabs, is working on an electric version of its TX4 cab. The company will be working in partnership with Tanfield, the specialist electric car designer and developer. The green plug-in taxi should be available by the middle of 2009.
The electric version of the black cab will be able to run for at least 100 miles on a single charge of its lithiumion battery. The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) estimates that the average taxi driver drives around 120 to 150 miles a day.
Aside from the environmental benefits, the main advantage of the new electric taxi for drivers will be the running costs. Read the rest »
By admin on May 15, 2008 | In Recycling, Business Waste, News | No Comments »
A £1 million modernisation at Peterborough City Council’s materials recycling facility (MRF) will be unveiled by Councillor Graham Murphy, Cabinet member for the environment, on Friday (16 May) at 2 pm.
The investment includes the region’s first installation of state-of-the-art technology, which has made it possible for Peterborough residents to recycle glass bottles and jars through their household green bins since the beginning of March.
The new equipment includes rotating cylinders called ‘trommels’, powerful magnets and photo-spectrum scanners that automatically sort materials. These machines and a strict quality control procedure, which includes hand-picking to remove unsuitable items, ensure that the materials sent for re-processing meet industry standards.
“The materials recycling facility is at the core of the city council’s success in being the top recycler among the UK’s unitary authorities,” said Councillor Murphy. “The support of local residents means we set a new record by recycling and composting more than 46 per cent of household materials in 2007/08. Read the rest »
By admin on May 15, 2008 | In Featured, News, Business | No Comments »
An investigation has begun following the discovery of a male body among recycling waste at a materials recycling facility in Kent on Tuesday 13th May. The body was discovered at a Viridor Waste Management site in Crayford, and it is thought the body may have been carried for about 100 miles in the back of a refuse vehicle.
The Crossgates waste depot run by Viridor in Redditch was initially closed while inquiries were being carried out. Viridor said that it had informed customers of the difficult situation and provided alternative arrangements to minimise disruption to its waste and recycling services. This included sending material to other Viridor operated material recycling facilities in the region, such as its facility in Ipswich.
A post-mortem examination on the body has proved inconclusive and further tests are now being carried out. The identity, age and ethnicity of the man are not yet known and the death is currently being treated as “unexplained”.Â
By admin on May 13, 2008 | In News, Energy, Business | No Comments »
Collecting garbage and recyclables in California is about to get a lot cleaner, thanks to a joint venture between Linde North America and Waste Management that will create the world’s largest facility to convert landfill gas into clean vehicle fuel.
Waste Management, North America’s largest waste management company, and Linde North America – part of The Linde Group, a leading global gases and engineering company, today announced a joint venture to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, located at the Altamont Landfill near Livermore, California to convert landfill gas into a clean vehicle fuel. The project offers a unique opportunity to “close the loop” by fueling hundreds of collection trucks with clean fuel produced from garbage. Read the rest »
By admin on May 13, 2008 | In News, Energy | No Comments »
Acciona Energia, the leading wind power company, has announced a 500 million euros investment into 2 new solar thermal plants in Palma del RÃo, Cordoba, in southern Spain. Each plant will have a capacity of 50 megawatts and together they should be able to power around 75,000 homes a year. The solar energy plants should be operational by 2010. “The plants will cover the area of about 260 hectares, or 364 soccer fields, comprising 1,520 solar collectors and a truly mind boggling 364,800 mirrors which will focus the sun’s rays into the collectors. ”
By admin on May 13, 2008 | In Featured, News | No Comments »
It has been announced that Lord Smith, the former culture secretary, is to be the new head of the Environment Agency. He will be replacing Sir John Harman and will oversee areas such as flood defences and the control of pollution and waste throughout England and Wales.
Lord Smith will take up the position in July, and will be paid £102,000 a year (not bad for a three-day week). Lord Smith was the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury in north London until 2005 and has been described as having “strong leadership experience” and a “long-term commitment” to green issues by Mr Benn.
Following the floods of last summer, around 8,000 people in East and South Yorkshire are still unable to return home due to their properties being too badly damaged to live in and are still being repaired. This has led to the Environment Agency being warned to improve defences, which have been described as “confused and chaotic”.Â
By admin on Dec 5, 2007 | In Recycled Products, Recycling, Environment, News | 2 Comments
Coca-Cola has reduced the weight of its famous glass ‘contour’ bottles by 20% to make them more eco-friendly.
The 330ml bottle is 13mm shorter and 0.1mm wider than the original design.
All Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero glass bottles will be made in the lighter-weight format from now on.
The new redesigned bottle weighs in at 210g compared to the old 263g bottle, which was originally developed in 1916.
The firm said converting to the lighter packaging would cut its raw glass usage by an estimated 3,500 tonnes and CO2 emissions by 2,200 tonnes annually. Read the rest »
By admin on Dec 4, 2007 | In Household Waste, Recycling, Featured, Environment, News, Home & Garden | 2 Comments
Actress Joanna Lumley has today launched a nationwide recycling campaign to highlight the massive amount of extra waste generated during the festive season, and to encourage households to take action to recycle this waste.Â
The campaign is being run by Recycle Now, and will encourage householders to recycle their old Christmas trees, compost their vegetable peelings and drop off recyclables at supermarkets and recycling centres. Fridey Cordingley, head of Recycle Now, said:
“The amount of extra rubbish produced over Christmas is staggering but there are lots of different ways to help cut this down. Read the rest »
By admin on Dec 3, 2007 | In Featured, Environment, News, Energy | No Comments »
Governments from around the world meet up this week to discuss the issue of climate change and how to reduce carbon emissions. The two-week meeting in Bali will also debate how to help poor nations cope in a warming world.
It is the first such meeting since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gave warning that current evidence for global warming was “unequivocal”. The annual meeting, organised by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is under pressure to deliver a new global agreement on how to cut rising greenhouse gas emissions. Read the rest »
By admin on Dec 2, 2007 | In Recycled Products | 2 Comments
Ever wondered what to do with your old books? A company called Rebound Designs has put them to good use by making them into these unique bags. Read the rest »
