Two of the largest landfill sites serving Los Angeles are suffering underground chemical reactions undermining their stability and releasing toxins and greenhouse gasses. How many more such dumps are pumping out methane, I wonder?
In a comic or a b-movie, the waste stew would have been hit by lightning and become some sort of shambling monster. But real life gives us the rotten egg stink of hydrogen sulphide and the long term horror of climate change.
via bldblg
Bryn Fogden challenged himself to produce no landfill for the whole of May. To do this he had to change his shopping and some of his eating habits, but he did manage and intends to carry on. He blogged the whole experience at nilrubbish.blogspot.com.
A couple from Hulme have won £1500 to spend on energy or wasyte saving work on their house after making great changes to help tackle climate change. Alan and Shelley Heckman lowered their energy and water consumption over eight months whilst taking part in MAnchester’s Eco-Diet Challenge.
Technorati tag: EcoHouse, Manchester
It can be hard disposing of waste sensibly and ethically. No matter how well meaning, your local council is likely to send you round in circles trying to find the right department or service. However, there are a lot of community based programmes out there that make creative use of the things everyday folks leave behind.
The Community Recycling Network tries to keep track of all these groups, allowing you to search by various criteria for the one best suited. They also produce rather nice directories, I picked up the Community Waste Network North West one on Saturday at the Green Architecture event.
Technorati tag: EcoHouse
Asda are setting up a pilot scheme where they will collect examples of over packaging from customers to build a case to present to their suppliers. The Daily Mail is supporting it because they think it will mean a return to weekly refuse collections.
I try to buy as much as possible from the local grocers, which reduces waste quite substantially. I just need to remember to take my backpack with me so they don’t put everything into a carrier bag.
The Local Government Association are proposing schemes to cut the amount of domestic waste. One possibility is to charge households more if they throw more stuff out. This will only work if there’s a baseline amount of rubbish removal covered by Council Tax with rebates for those who produce less and charges for tose who produce more. And it wouldn’t be the easiest thing to police.
A better idea, also hinted at, is to cut the amount of unnecessary material entering the house in the first place- fining manufacturers and shops whose products are over-packaged.
Technorati tag: Waste
A collection of environment and agriculture related items from the BBC today-
The next generation of biofuels, one of the opportunities the above project will no doubt be looking into.
A conference on boosting the recycling of farm waste in East Anglia.
Technorati tag: Agriculture, Biofuel, Food Miles
(Cross posted from Spinneyhead)
Manchester City Council have some statistics on waste this Christmas, plus some ideas on how to cut it down (mostly by carefully choosing what to buy, which might be a little late for most of you) and some guidance on what can be recycled.
If you live in Manchester, the link to the recycling centres around Manchester and what each one accepts is also useful.
(Title taken from Green Christmas by Barenaked Ladies)
Technorati tag: Recycling, Manchester
Tesco shoppers will get special loyalty points for not using new bags when they shop at the store. It’s all part of a plan by the supermarket to cut the amount of waste it produces. Currently 4 billion bags are taken from their stores annually and they aim to cut that by 25% by 2008.
Bixby Energy Systems have developed a pellets stove that can burn almost anything. The trick is in formulating the pellets to burn at a given temperature and company founder Bob Walker has done just that. This means that pellets can be made from local waste materials, keeping the supply chain short. He has even developed a hopper system to automate the transfer of fuel to the burner for the really lazy. Wired article.
Technorati tag: Pellet Stove, biomass
Biodiesel and ethanol could be vital parts of the switch from oil dependency, but some of the current means of producing them are too energy intensive and damaging in their own right. PetroSun Drilling Inc. has created a subsidiary- Algae BioFuels Inc.- to research and develop algae cultivation as an energy source in the production of biodiesel. Studies have demonstrated that algae is capable of producing 30 times more oil per acre than the crops currently grown for biofuel production and the resulting fuel is low sulphur, non-toxic and biodegradable.
If they can find a way to break down waste products to provide nutrients, that would be even better.
via Treehugger
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency statistics, covering the period from July to September, were welcomed by Environment Minister Ross Finnie.
But he said that more had to be done to improve Scotland’s record, a call echoed by unions and environmentalists.
The minister launched a consultation to seek views on the issue.
Work is due to begin on a £90million biomass power station near Lockerbie in Scotland. The scheme converts waste timber products into energy and should supply enough power to meet the needs of around 70,000 homes.
Technorati tag: biomass power, Scotland
Peter Jones, a director of Biffa- Britain’s largest waste handling company, says that tighter EU recycling laws and higher landfill taxes will cost up to £8bn within years.
“The days of chucking waste into holes in the ground are over and the future is hi-tech, efficient, but fiendishly expensive. Instead of chucking 75% of everything we have finished with down a hole for about £12 a tonne, within a few years very little will be landfilled and that will cost two or three times what it costs now. We expect it to cost Britain £5-8bn to deliver an 80% diversion from landfill. Everyone is in for a rude shock.”
Efficient and fiendishly expensive? I can’t help thinking he’s missing a bit of joined up thinking and hasn’t considered the money making potential of closing the manufacturing cycle with recycling.
Enviropundit has a selection of links on the subject.
The applications have just triumphed in an international competition seeking novel ways to employ Galileo, Europe’s soon-to-launch sat-nav system.
Technorati tag: Technology, Galileo
Chris Jordan’s photos portray the effects of mass consumption. The near abstract piles of crushed cars, discarded phones and unwanted circuit boards have a certain abstract beauty about them, even when you understand the waste and destruction they represent.
Via BoingBoing (I think the increase in traffic is putting a big strain on the server.)
Technorati tag: Waste, Photography
The possibility of turning waste into fuel could be one step closer. There have been reports that the pilot plants are experiencing problems, but I’m optimistic.
Technorati tag: Depolymerisation
PR, increasing landfill costs and the bottom line are making companies think harder about cutting down on industrial waste.
Technorati tag: Industry, Zero Waste