The UK’s leading supermarkets have cut the number of single-use carrier bags used by 48% compared to 2006 levels, the Waste & Resources Action Programme announced in July. The achievement falls just short of a voluntary agreement to cut the number of single-use carry bags handed out by 50% by spring 2009. But what kind…
The government should introduce a scrappage scheme for domestic appliances in a bid to encourage households to buy more energy-efficient products, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The trade body today (August 17) revealed that it had written to Chancellor Alistair Darling urging him to explore the possibility of incentivising the purchase of energy…
Defra has today (September 24) published a new strategy aiming to improve the quality of soil in England. The report, ‘Safeguarding Our Soils’, highlights the importance of returning recycled materials such as compost and digestate to land, but it warned that the spreading of organic matter to land also represented “growing concern” due to the…
Draft regulations to revise the system of waste exemptions from environmental permitting in England and Wales have now been published. The regulations are set to come into force on 6 April 2010. The draft regulations set out how the new exemptions system is set to work. The document reiterates Defra’s decision to drop its earlier…
Homeowners in Birmingham, Sunderland, London Borough of Sutton and Stroud will be testing out new ways to finance whole house energy makeovers under the Government’s £4m Pay As You Save scheme. Birmingham City Council, Gentoo Sunderland, British Gas, B&Q UK and Stroud District Council have been chosen to deliver individual projects in the first ever…
AC Environmental have recently completed a standby power project in Stoke on Trent. The site, a former factory, was undergoing a major refurbishment and change of use to become a large call centre. Despite a dedicated HV connection, the grid connection was of concern and a number of power outages during construction outlined the need…
The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 have recently been introduced, replacing the 2007 Regulations. The changes bring into law the exemption review, which has been ongoing for some time and a number of other regimes. The official reasons for the change are summarised below: Widen the existing streamlined environmental permitting and compliance system…
Defra has given its strongest support to date for kerbside sorting as its preferred option for household recycling collection in a consultation document published last week on draft regulations to implement the revised EU Waste Framework Directive in England and Wales. In the document, which has been jointly published with the Welsh Assembly Government, the…
The coalition Government has brought with it new priorities, one of which is that the parties “will introduce measures to promote a huge increase in energy from waste through anaerobic digestion (AD)”. Lord Redesdale, chairman of the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA), the trade body representing the industry in the UK, recently said: “The…
The government must back a massive increase in household food waste collection so that the “valuable” resource can be more easily used for energy generation, the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) has claimed. In response to the coalition’s Waste Review, which closed recently (October 7), ADBA advocated separate collections and stressed that local authorities…