Environment secretary Thérèse Coffey has announced a ban from October 2023 in England on a range of single-use plastic items, mostly relating to food. These included plates, trays, bowls, cutlery and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers. England uses 2.7 billion items of single-use cutlery — most of which are plastic — and […]
Despite the development of large scale and much advertised attempts to clear plastic from the ocean, a much more efficient method is to catch it before it even gets that far. The Dutch startup The Great Bubble Barrier is a simple, yet effective method to catch plastic pollution in rivers before it flows to the […]
Anyone working on plastic pollution should start the day looking at these graphs of the projected growth in plastic production … here is the link to those graphs . We need measures that really reduce the scale of pointless plastic items. Greenpeace Video ‘The UK government wants to be seen as a leader in tackling […]
Water bodies absorb the nitrogen released by human activity and must, therefore, be protected against nutrient overloading (or eutrophication), which can cause significant environmental damage. Constructed wetlands (CWs) are widely used as an eco-friendly treatment method for this; however, the efficacy of CWs may be affected by the presence of emerging contaminants in wastewater. This […]
Plastics is the oil & gas industries Plan B … incinerating it simply adds to the emissions Plastic production is set to grow exponentially – undermining climate commitments Channel 4 is screening its Dispatches ‘The dirty truth about your rubbish’ programme the night before this newsletter comes out – Lucy Sielge – see below Client […]
Last week I was made aware by Jacqui McGlade of a UN Meeting convened by the Global Partnership on marine litter and plastics. The recordings on the webinar on this link is an informative update on this issue with an international flavour. Live Stream on: Marine Litter and Micro-plastic Mitigation and Prevention – 12 speakers […]
Plastic has become ubiquitous on store shelves and in our homes. From wrapped food and disposable bottles to microbeads in body washes, it’s used widely as packaging or in products because it’s versatile, cheap, and convenient. But this convenience comes with a price. Plastic waste is entering the ocean at a rate of about 11 million […]
New survey reveals drinks containers make up 75% of litter in UK streets Keep Britain Tidy A new report produced by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy and commissioned by Defra, has revealed that the bulk of the litter that is being thrown onto UK streets, parks and beaches is the result of drinking on the go. […]