Category Archives: Waste

Canadians protest imports of US toxic waste amid Trump tariff war

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Move to expand landfill for US hazardous waste stirs disputes between leaders in Quebec and Montreal suburb

The proposed expansion of a Quebec landfill that accepts hazardous waste from the United States has ignited a turf war between the Quebec provincial government and local leaders, who say they oppose putting US trash into a local peat bog.

Local leaders are protesting the move – saying the state is capitulating to a US company in the midst of a tariff war between Canada and the United States.

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Bog standard? Study seeks most effective toilet training methods

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UCL team is inviting parents to share their experiences, as age at which children in west acquire the skill rises

Storybooks about potties, underpants featuring superheroes, rewards for doing a wee: toilet training is a rite of passage for any child. But with the average age of toilet training steadily creeping upwards, scientists are now hoping to crack the question of which methods are most effective.

A team at University College London is inviting people from across the world to share their experiences and techniques as part of the Big Toilet Project. The ultimate aim is to uncover evidence that could help parents toilet train children earlier and reduce the massive contribution that disposable nappies make to landfill waste.

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Thailand bans imports of plastic waste to curb toxic pollution

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Campaigners welcome move but say success depends on enforcement and global agreement on a treaty

Thailand has banned plastic waste imports over concerns about toxic pollution, as experts warn that failure to agree a global treaty to cut plastic waste will harm human health.

A law banning imports of plastic waste came into force this month in Thailand, after years of campaigning by activists. Thailand is one of several south-east Asian countries that has historically been paid to receive plastic waste from developed nations. The country became a leading destination for exports of plastic waste from Europe, the US, the UK and Japan in 2018 after China, the world’s biggest market for household waste, imposed a ban.

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UK student invents repairable kettle that anyone can fix

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Gabriel Kay hopes his design can help tackle the problems caused by discarded electrical goods

Gabriel Kay really understands his target audience. As a student of industrial and product design at De Montfort University, he focused on the kettle.

“Everyone can relate to a kettle, right?” says the 22-year-old graduate. “It’s easy to understand and associated with comfort. It’s a friendly introduction to design.”

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Sellafield ordered to pay nearly £400,000 over cybersecurity failings

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Nuclear waste dump in Cumbria pleaded guilty to leaving data that could threaten national security exposed for four years, says regulator

Sellafield will have to pay almost £400,000 after it pleaded guilty to criminal charges over years of cybersecurity failings at Britain’s most hazardous nuclear site.

The vast nuclear waste dump in Cumbria left information that could threaten national security exposed for four years, according to the industry regulator, which brought the charges. It was also found that 75% of its computer servers were vulnerable to cyber-attack.

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Labor claims Aukus nuclear waste dumping issue just a Greens scare campaign

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Legislation before Australian parliament covers the way the country’s nuclear-powered submarine program will be regulated

The Albanese government has bowed to pressure to close an Aukus loophole, insisting newly revealed changes will ensure Australia will not become a dumping ground for nuclear waste from US and UK submarines.

The Greens argued the government’s latest amendments did not go far enough and it was becoming increasingly clear the Aukus security pact was “sinking”.

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Lego plans to make half the plastic in bricks from renewable materials by 2026

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Toymaker hopes to bring down oil-based plastic it uses by paying up to 70% more for certified renewable resin to encourage production

Lego plans to make half the plastic in its bricks from renewable or recycled material rather than fossil fuels by 2026, in its latest effort to ensure its toys are more environmentally friendly.

The Danish company last year ditched efforts to make bricks entirely from recycled bottles because of cost and production issues. At the moment, 22% of the material in its colourful bricks is not made from fossil fuels.

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Plutonium levels near US atomic site in Los Alamos similar to Chornobyl, study finds

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Much of the land near the atomic bomb’s birthplace was converted to recreational areas, but toxic waste remains

Soil, plants and water along popular recreation spots near Los Alamos, New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb, are contaminated with “extreme concentrations” of plutonium, a new study has found, but calls for the federal government to act have been dismissed.

Michael Ketterer, a Northern Arizona University scientist and lead researcher on the project, said the plutonium levels in and around New Mexico’s Acid Canyon were among the highest he had ever seen in a publicly accessible area in the US during his decades-long career – comparable to what is found in Ukraine at the site of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.

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Former NSW Coalition government was warned recycled soil products posed ‘unacceptable risks’

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Exclusive: Environment watchdog advised in 2021 the material ‘should not be used broadly’, before backing away from proposals to tighten regulations

The New South Wales environment watchdog warned the former Coalition state government that a widely used recycled landscaping product posed “potential unacceptable risks to the environment and the community”.

Guardian Australia revealed in January that the Environment Protection Authority had known for more than a decade that producers of soil fill made from construction and demolition waste – known as recovered fines – were failing to comply with rules to limit the spread of contaminants.

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Sellafield apologises after guilty plea over string of cybersecurity failings

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Nuclear site awaits sentencing over breaches that it admitted could have threatened national security

Sellafield has apologised after pleading guilty to criminal charges relating to a string of cybersecurity failings at Britain’s most hazardous nuclear site, which it admitted could have threatened national security.

Among the failings at the vast nuclear waste dump in Cumbria was the discovery that 75% of its computer servers were vulnerable to cyber-attacks, Westminster magistrates court in London heard.

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NSW waste industry faces crackdown on recycled soil after asbestos found in more than half facilities tested

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Exclusive: Watchdog says it ordered disposal of more than 600 tonnes of soil fill, fined three facilities and is considering ‘significant changes’ to rules following Guardian investigation

The New South Wales environment watchdog has vowed to crack down on the waste industry after new tests found asbestos at seven of 13 facilities producing or handling cheap landscaping products.

A 15-month Guardian Australia investigation revealed earlier this year that the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) had failed to act after compliance campaigns in 2013 and 2019 found potentially contaminated products had been distributed across the state – including at childcare centres, schools, residential areas and parks – thanks to widespread breaches by the industry.

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Royal Mint opens factory in south Wales to recover gold from e-waste

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‘Pioneering’ facility will extract precious metal from up to 4,000 tonnes of scrap circuit boards a year

The Royal Mint has unveiled a “pioneering” factory that will recover gold from electronic waste, creating a more sustainable source of the precious metal for the coin manufacturer’s luxury jewellery line.

The factory in south Wales, which has been under construction since March 2022, is designed to extract gold from up to 4,000 tonnes a year of circuit boards sourced in the UK from electronics including phones, laptops and TVs.

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Shadow energy minister says system in ‘dire trouble’ – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Australia needs more gas supply on east coast, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese is speaking to the ABC from Devonport.

We’ll work those issues through with Aemo.

We need more gas supply. We announced our future gas strategy a short while ago because we understand that we need more supply. Gas has an important role to play in manufacturing in particular. But also in providing firming capacity for the renewables rollout.

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Snakes, donkey heads, a dead cow: the odd things found in recycling – and how they should be disposed of

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Most Australians don’t know what to do with their dead pets, vapes and lightbulbs, a waste survey has found

While Australia may be a pet-loving nation, a majority seem perplexed at what to do when a beloved animal dies.

Survey results commissioned by the waste management company Veolia show 80% of Australians do not know how to dispose of dead pets, with 38% putting them in the bin and 42% not knowing what to do at all.

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UK public warned after huge rise in fires caused by binned batteries

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Fire chief says incorrect disposal of devices powered by lithium-ion batteries are ‘disaster waiting to happen’

Fires caused by batteries in waste have gone up by 71% in the UK since 2022, as the rise of disposable vapes and other portable battery-powered devices leads to more lithium-ion batteries ending up in the bin.

An increase in the number of these devices being thrown in household rubbish bins has led to more than 1,200 fires in the waste system in the past 12 months, compared with 700 in 2022, according to research conducted by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and the campaign group Recycle Your Electricals.

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Most UK dairy farms ignoring pollution rules as manure spews into rivers

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Exclusive: 80% of Welsh dairy farms inspected, 69% of English ones, 60% in Scotland and 50% in Northern Ireland breaching regulations

The majority of UK dairy farms are breaking pollution rules, with vast amounts of cow manure being spilled into rivers.

When animal waste enters the river, it causes a buildup of the nutrients found in the effluent, such as nitrates and phosphates. These cause algal blooms, which deplete the waterway of oxygen and block sunlight, choking fish and other aquatic life.

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Victoria trials reusable crates for fresh produce to cut ‘invisible’ waste from supply chain

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Pilot scheme supplies 1,000 folding boxes to farms and wholesalers to reduce single-use cardboard, paper and plastic

A pilot scheme to replace cardboard produce boxes with reusable plastic crates has been launched in Victoria, with the aim to cut “invisible” cardboard waste.

The Victoria Unboxed project, led by the food charity Sustain with Sustainable Victoria, has supplied 1,000 reusable plastic crates to transport produce from farms to venues, wholesalers and homes across Melbourne. The trial aims to reduce the need for single-use packaging, including cardboard, plastic and paper waste.

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Steve Barclay apologises for not recusing himself sooner from incinerator decision

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Environment secretary opposed waste plant plans that must be approved by body he oversees

The environment secretary has refused to say whether he abused his position when he tried to stop an incinerator being built in his constituency.

But Steve Barclay apologised for not properly declaring his interest and recusing himself, when questioned about it on Tuesday.

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UK gives £600m backing to Jim Ratcliffe’s ‘carbon bomb’ petrochemical plant

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Campaigners say Ineos project in Antwerp will turbocharge plastic production on a scale not seen before in Europe

The UK government is providing a €700m (£600m) guarantee for the billionaire Jim Ratcliffe to build the biggest petrochemical plant in Europe in 30 years that will turbocharge plastic production.

The huge petrochemical plant has been described as a “carbon bomb” by campaigners. Being constructed in the Belgian city of Antwerp by Ratcliffe’s company Ineos, it will bring plastic production to Europe on a scale not seen before, just as countries are trying to negotiate a binding global treaty to tackle the growing problem of plastic pollution.

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Thousands of NSW students to stay home after asbestos found in mulch at two more Sydney schools

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Positive tests recorded at schools in Marsden Park and Orchard Hills takes total number of sites to have tested positive to 34 since early January

Thousands of New South Wales students will be forced into remote learning for a week after asbestos was found at another two Sydney schools, as testing continues across the city.

The state’s environment watchdog confirmed the additional positive results on Sunday while investigators continued to trace and test mulch that may be contaminated with asbestos.

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