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.”
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...‘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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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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...More than 130 people working on criminal investigation into mulch supplied by Greenlife Resource Recovery. The company denies any wrongdoing
An investigation into the growing New South Wales asbestos scandal has become the state environmental watchdog’s biggest-ever probe with hundreds of sites potentially contaminated including parks, schools, train stations and suburban back yards.
A surge workforce of public servants and firefighters will assist the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) as it expands its criminal investigation into mulch found to contain asbestos across Sydney and regional NSW.
Continue reading...Campaigners argue in legal challenge that loophole has allowed poultry farmers to pollute river
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The Environment Agency and the UK government failed to protect the River Wye from catastrophic decline by allowing pollution from industrial chicken farming to saturate the land and devastate the protected river, a legal challenge is to argue.
Continue reading...Exclusive: environmental regulator has known for more than a decade that contaminated soil fill might have been used in childcare centres, schools and parks
The New South Wales environmental regulator has known for more than a decade that producers of soil fill made from construction and demolition waste were failing to comply with rules to limit the spread of contaminants such as lead and asbestos into the community.
Internal documents from the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), obtained by Guardian Australia, warned widespread breaches by industry meant potentially contaminated product might have been applied to land across the state, including at childcare centres, residential areas, schools and parks.
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