Firstly, happy New Year from all those at BaR! The start of January always seems to herald a surfeit of navel-gazing blog posts. Therefore, I thought I would attempt to broaden my horizons and consider whether, with only five years to go to meet the 20-20-20 EU climate targets, will 2015 be the greenest year yet?
Sustainable development
HGVs – Henceforth Gas Vehicles?
This post was inspired by my recent attendance at the ADBA UK Biomethane & Gas Vehicle conference. You may not own or drive a car, but it is almost inevitable that part of your day-to-day your is delivered by heavy goods vehicle (HGV). That Amazon parcel, the food you bought in the supermarket, the pint of beer you drunk in the pub…it all came on a lorry. This transport sector comprises ...[Read More]
Plastic packaging – a horror film
Zero Waste Week is an opportunity to reduce landfill waste & save money. In its seventh year, the week runs 1st – 7th September 2014. The theme is “One More Thing” – what one more thing could YOU do? Find out more at http://www.zerowasteweek.co.uk/ or on Twitter using #zerowasteweek Ever since I spent a summer working on a landfill site, I think twice before putting any ...[Read More]
Aim high, shoot low? UK recycling rates missing the target
In 2008, the EU set a target for member countries to achieve a 50 % household recycling rate by 2020; last week, an amendment raised this figure to 70 % . The graph below shows the latest available data for the UK. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist (or an Earth scientist for that matter) to work out that at the current rate of progress, we aren’t going to hit the 70 % required by 2020 ...[Read More]
From landfill to jet fuel: the plastic panacea?
Last week British Airways announced that the world’s first sustainable aviation fuel plant will be built in Thurrock, Essex. The airline claims that 575,000 tonnes of plastic waste, otherwise destined for landfill or incineration, will be converted into 120,000 tonnes of liquid fuel each year. According to BA, that’s enough to power the annual flights from London City Airport, twice over. The conc ...[Read More]