Our thirst for the latest gadgets has created a vast empire of electronic waste, writes Ian Williams. The EU alone produces some 9 million tonnes of it a year, of which some 70% is still working when disposed of, and over a third is disposed of illegally. With increasingly affordable electronic devices available to ever more people, it's high time for effective global regulation.
… From latest gizmo to toxic waste: the dark side of the worldwide … of Southampton | 11th February 2016 Comment Waste Pollution Regulation EU Africa China … has created a vast empire of electronic waste, writes Ian Williams. The EU alone …
Last February's explosion at the WIPP dump for long-lived intermediate-level nuclear waste from the US's nuclear weapons program remains unexplained, writes Jim Green. But with the site's history of ignored warnings, 'missing' safety culture, lack of supervision and dubious contractor appointments, it surely came as no surprise - and further accidents appear inevitable.
… New Mexico nuclear waste accident a 'horrific comedy of errors' … ional_laboratory_celebrates_1000th_transuranic_waste_shipment-cut.jpg Last February's … for long-lived intermediate-level nuclear waste from the US's nuclear weapons program …
There's a quick climate win for COP21 negotiators to ponder, writes Wilf Lytton - one that could convert a billion tonnes a year of CO2 into mineral form while neutralising caustic wastes like coal ash and slag. But first, industries and regulators must adopt a 'recycling' mentality to these hazardous materials, rather than the 'dump and forget' model that prevails today.
… Recycle industrial wastes to cut 1Gt from world's carbon … | 1st December 2015 Comment Climate Change Waste Pollution Regulation Emissions caustic-waste-cut.jpg There's a quick climate win for …
The Yucca Mountain radioactive dump may have been officially 'cancelled', writes John LaForge, and with very good reason. But like all those zombies out for Hallowe'en last night, it's not dead yet, as US nuclear regulators declare that the site perfectly meets nuclear waste storage requirements.
… Yucca Mountain radioactive waste dump is all too 'undead' John LaForge | 1st November 2014 News Nuclear Waste USA Regulation yucca_mountain-cut.jpg … declare that the site perfectly meets nuclear waste storage requirements. Although the Obama …
Following this month's intense rainfall in the north of England an Environment Agency alert has highlighted the flood risk to the crumbling nuclear waste dump adjoining Sellafield in Cumbria, writes Marianne Birkby - a dump which remains in use despite its condemnation by the EA in 2005 due to its likely destruction by rising seas. Now it really is time to close the gate on Drigg!
… Agency issues alert on Drigg nuclear waste site Marianne Birkby | 31st December 2015 Activism Nuclear Waste UK Water Flooding Regulation … the flood risk to the crumbling nuclear waste dump adjoining Sellafield in Cumbria, …
As Cameron 'cuts the green crap' Paul Mobbs remembers how the decisions of a Conservative government 20 years ago to go easy on the owners of contaminated land and old waste dumps have led to present day blight, ill-health and death. Now brow-beaten regulators and politicians in hock to party funders are doing it all over again.
… Paul Mobbs | 22nd December 2014 News Waste Toxics Politics Regulation UK … on the owners of contaminated land and old waste dumps have led to present day blight, … all sorts of 'nastiness' - from the dodgy waste reclamation plants of the Black Country, …
With five reactors closed in the last three years, the US nuclear industry is in shutdown mode, writes Linda Pentz Gunter - and that means big spending on decommissioning. But now the nuclear regulator is set to exempt owners from safety and emergency costs at their closed plants - allowing them to walk away from the costs and liabilities, and palm them onto taxpayers.
… Gunter | 13th May 2016 News Nuclear Energy Waste Regulation USA Finance … the protracted management of orphaned nuclear waste left on site. In addition, while at the … around hundreds of tons high-level nuclear waste, all in the name of saving money. "The …
This month a tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine in BC breached, writes Carol Linnitt - spilling 14.5 billion litres of toxic mine waste into Quesnel Lake. A major source of freshwater and one of BC's premier fly-fishing destinations, the lake will never be the same again. But it's just the first big victim of Canada's wave of environmental de-regulation ...
… | 27th August 2014 Activism Mining Water Waste Pollution Regulation Canada … surface: 14.5 billion litres of toxic mining waste. This month a tailings dam at the Mount … - spilling 14.5 billion litres of toxic mine waste into Quesnel Lake. A major source of …
Gas flaring of natural at shale oil wells is carried out on such a scale in North Dakota and Texas that 'phantom cities' show up at night in satellite photos, writes Sharon Kelly. Billions of dollars worth of gas are going up in smoke, adding to CO2 emissions - but far worse for the climate is when the gas is 'vented'. Regulators are doing too little, too late.
… a process known in the industry as 'flaring'. Wasteful and destructive - $854 million up in smoke It's a process so wasteful that it's sparked class action … was responsible for two thirds of the state's wasted gas in 2012, totaling 21 billion feet …
The UK government will set long-term targets for air quality, resource efficiency and waste reduction, biodiversity, and water.
… for air quality, resource efficiency and waste reduction, biodiversity, and water. … areas - Air quality, resource efficiency and waste reduction, biodiversity, and water. … along with reducing the volume of residual waste and plastic pollution the UK generates. …
America's coal-fired power plants produce 140 million tons of ash a year, reports Ben Whitford, most of it dumped in open storage ponds that contaminate drinking water with arsenic and heavy metals. And now Presidential candidate Jeb Bush is promising to scrap 'new and costly' (actually feeble) EPA regulations before they have even been implemented.
… September 2015 News Fossil Fuels Energy Coal Waste Regulation Politics … than four billion gallons of ash slurry - the waste from years of coal-fired energy … it the country's second-largest industrial waste stream. The vast majority of that ash is …
Nuclear energy is essential to preserve the world's biodiversity, according to 69 conservation scientists. But there's a mysterious omission in their analysis, writes Jim Green: nuclear weapons proliferation. And after a major exchange of nuclear bombs, and the 'nuclear winter' that would follow, exactly how much biodiversity would survive?
… land use, safety (fatalities), solid waste, and radiotoxic waste. WMD proliferation is excluded. By all … technology would result in all of the nuclear waste and depleted uranium stockpiles …
Countries at the UN have agreed to start formal negotiations on a new 'legally binding instrument' to conserve the biological riches of the high seas that cover 45% of planet Earth, and ensure their sustainable use for the benefit of all mankind.
… Oceans UK Law Fishing Mining Biodiversity Waste sunset-at-sea-cut.jpg Countries at the … clean up of vast floating islands of plastic waste. Following the decision by the United … guard against irresponsible, inefficient and wasteful exploitation, and allow for the …
Jaitapur's French-built nuclear plant is a disaster in waiting, jeopardising biodiversity and local livelihoods, says activist Praful Bidwai
… about Chernobyl, radiation, and the nuclear waste problem. They have seen films on … nuclear safety, or even mention radioactive waste. It subverted the law on … isn’t telling us the true cost of nuclear waste disposal UK plans for ten new nuclear …
Almost all UK laws that regulate fracking's impact on the environment emanate from EU directives and regulations, writes Zachary Davies Boren. Once out of the EU, the UK would be free to amend them, scrap them or simply ignore them. And given the UK's record of support for fracking and lobbying in Brussels for deregulation, that may be exactly what the Brexiteers have planned.
… EU UK Fossil Fuels Pollution pillaga-waste-water-cut.jpg Almost all UK laws that … used in the fracking process; the Mining Waste Directive covers the handling and …
The UK Government is seeking to 'Justify' the Hitachi ABWR reactor type for new nuclear build at Wylfa and Oldbury. But as Mark Hackett reveals, the design is a dismal failure in Japan, costs more than alternatives, and brings serious health hazards.
… to build at Hinkley Point. ABWR = Awfully Big Waste of Resources Instead they are backing …
Article 6 of the Euratom Treaty provides for nuclear industry practices to be rejustified in the light of new scientific evidence of harm to health, writes Chris Busby. We now have that evidence, in particular that radiation exposure even at very low levels causes severe and heritable genetic damage to people and entire families. Now, we must use the law to protect our health from radiation!
… Activism Nuclear Science Health Energy WMD Waste Regulation UK EU wylfa-cut.jpg Article 6 … in submarines, the disposal of nuclear waste. The list is long. Nuclear practices …
The Government is struggling to spin its policy to fast track fracking, writes Paul Mobbs. So as it cuts the public out of the regulatory process, exempts exploratory wells from controls, and forces the Environment Agency to issue permits with 1-2 weeks, its spin machine has resorted to outright lies and misinformation to conceal the scale of the attack on our environmental rights.
… interest'." Exemptions for emissions and waste from fracking Currently all on-shore … Agency to issue permits for the emissions and waste created. During 2011/2012 this created …
The strongly protected marine reserve in Lamlash Bay, Arran, has been a huge success, write Bryce Stewart & Leigh Howarth, with abandant life returning to the once denuded waters. The government's refusal to expand such protections represents a huge wasted opportunity for both fishing and the marine environment.
… to expand such protections represents a huge wasted opportunity for both fishing and the … at Arran, to be established. Surely this is a wasted opportunity. Perhaps if the fishing …
The discovery of a tiny but deadly radioactive 'hot particle' in mud from the Esk estuary near Sellafield has highlighted the dangers the nuclear site poses to residents and visitors, writes Chris Busby. Independent measures of radiation show far higher levels that those of regulators, similar to readings in the Chernobyl and Fukushima exclusion zones. Local villages should be evacuated.
… cultural riches... Sellafield, which pours waste plutonium into the world's natural … has turned that beautiful coast into Eliot's Waste Land . But there are no United Nations …
The state of the world’s nature shows human-driven sixth mass extinction is ongoing.
… extract more from the Earth and produce more waste than ever before. The increasing human … metals, solvents, toxic sludge and other wastes from industrial facilities are dumped …
Brexit is part of a corporate campaign to remove, undermine and attack European Union regulations and increase the rate of growth and profit. But these very regulations are necessary for the protection of the environment - and life itself. PROFESSOR JOHN McMURTRY, author of The Cancer Stage of Capitalism: from Crisis to Cure, raises the alarm.
… mounting pollutions by multiplying carbon and waste miles built into vast unneeded commodity … business has long profited from this no-cost waste and ignored the ecological necessity … capital – to ever-growing consumption and waste of social and ecological capital as far …