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 …
The clean-up after the February 2014 explosion at the world's only deep underground repository for nuclear waste in New Mexico, USA, is massively over budget, writes Jim Green - and full operations won't resume until at least 2021. The fundamental cause of the problems: high level radioactive waste, poor regulation, rigid deadlines and corporate profit make a dangerous mix.
… WIPP nuclear waste accident will cost US taxpayers $2 … Jim Green | 20th September 2016 News Nuclear Waste Energy Pollution US Corporations … only deep underground repository for nuclear waste in New Mexico, USA, is massively over …
Fracking operations produce radioactive waste derived from naturally occurring uranium and thorium - until now, safely buried deep underground. And right now the industry has neither a plan, nor the technology, to deal with it.
… Fracking operations produce radioactive waste derived from naturally occurring uranium … radioactive material that is found in the waste water, principally radium, is high … neither will it be possible to dispose of the waste water by injecting it back underground. …
The European Commission has confirmed that it will drop its 'circular economy' package, writes James Crisp, in the face of protest by MEPs and environment ministers. The EC's insistence that a future version would be 'improved' - but in in unspecified ways - only raised suspicions of a deregulatory coup by Europe's dirtiest businesses.
… Europe's 'circular economy' waste laws binned despite MEPs' fury James Crisp EurActiv | 26th January 2015 News Waste EU Politics Corporations dump-cut.jpg … to ditch the Circular Economy package of waste, recycling and incineration laws, was …
A third of all food that's produced in the world is thrown away. What's going on? Diana Moreno finds some answers in her own experience working in a German supermarket. Leading the list is the mind-numbing 'culture of rush' that permeates high-volume, low margin retailing, and which subjects workers and customers alike to the soul-less logic of the production line.
… From shelf to skip: food waste and the culture of rush Diana Moreno | … January 2016 Comment Consumerism Corporations Waste Food skip-diving-cut.jpg A third of all … the morning, a random employee has to do the 'waste inventory'. This consists of scanning …
East Liverpool, a small city by the Ohio river, is a cancer-ridden dumping ground for the detritus of the global economy, writes Caitlin Johnson. With its filthy power station, coal ash lake, 1,300 fracking wells, silica sand mountains and a huge toxic waste incinerator, the city's people need your help in their fight for environmental justice.
… Appalachia: a small city's fight against toxic waste incineration Caitlin Johnson | 5th December 2014 Activism USA Waste Coal Energy Fracking Toxics Society … wells, silica sand mountains and a huge toxic waste incinerator, the city's people need your …
Two huge open pit mines in northern Norway are on the verge of approval, writes Tina Andersen Vågenes - even though they would dump hundreds of millions of tonnes of tailings in fjords where wild salmon spawn. Scientists are voicing serious concerns, and protests are growing, but government and mining companies appear determined to push the projects forward regardless.
… 'Acutely toxic' mine waste threatens the death of Norway's fjords … November 2014 News Mining Norway Corporations Waste Pollution Fishing Oceans … way in Norway, both using the controversial waste disposal method called submarine …
Our insatiable appetite for expensive coffee is causing a global trail of waste and destruction, writes Donnachadh McCarthy. Following the successful campaign for a 5p plastic bag levy, it's time to move on to a much larger 25p levy on disposable coffee cups - making those that profit from the waste carry the cost of its disposal.
… UK's 3 billion waste coffee cups a year: let those who profit … expensive coffee is causing a global trail of waste and destruction, writes Donnachadh … cups - making those that profit from the waste carry the cost of its disposal. I was …
An anti-environment plot by Junckers' Commission would abandon agreed 'green' laws for clean air, waste reduction and recycling. But the leak of key documents to EurActiv has stimulated fierce opposition by Green MEPs and environment groups, while eleven EU countries have called on Junckers to hold to the green laws and speed up their implementation.
… Leaked: EU Commission plot to ditch waste and air pollution laws EurActiv | 12th … December 2014 News EU Politics Corporations Waste Pollution Health … abandon agreed 'green' laws for clean air, waste reduction and recycling. But the leak of …
A Greenpeace investigation has exposed the massive efforts of global food and drink giant Coca Cola to defeat popular proposals to require deposits on single-use plastic bottles, writes Maeve McClenaghan. In fact, deposit schemes are working fine in many countries in which the company operates - it's a simple case of corporate profit before environment, oceans and wildlife.
… big 'fight back' against tackling plastic waste Maeve McClenaghan Greenpeace Energydesk | 2nd February 2017 News Waste Pollution Corporations Politics UK EU … scheme in Scotland designed to reduce plastic waste, according to an Energydesk …
Six environment heroes, one from each continent, are honoured for their work today - fighting threats from giant coal mines to forest destruction, fracking, high dams, illegal development and toxic waste dumps. Sophie Morlin-Yron reports.
… coal, dams, palm oil, fracking, toxic waste Sophie Morlin-Yron | 28th April 2014 News Fracking Fossil Fuels Waste Water Energy USA Indonesia Russia Peru … high dams, illegal development and toxic waste dumps. Sophie Morlin-Yron reports. San …
Nearly a year ago at the height of the UK floods, tragedy struck an ordinary family in Surrey as toxic gas from a nearby landfill site killed a 7-year old boy, Zane. Now the authorities appear determined to exculpate the source of the poison - an old landfill site - even as they prepare for a massive increase in hazardous waste from fracking.
… The Ecologist | 19th January 2015 Activism Waste Health Fracking Corporations Politics UK … prepare for a massive increase in hazardous waste from fracking. Zane, a beautiful bright … may need countless new landfills to dump its waste In a recent submission to the …
The US's 'dash to frack' for oil or gas, which has transformed the country's energy market, is seriously depleting and contaminating aquifers and surface water supplies, writes Valerie Brown. The choice facing America is plain - energy, or water?
… June 2013 News Water USA Fracking Pollution Waste … water and how they will dispose of their wastewater. Even in the face of a drought … fracking is complete is also challenging. The wastewater is a mixture of the injected …
After 20 years of oil spills, deforestation, waste dumping and ill health, farmers and indigenous people in the the Ecuadorian Amazon have been fighting the Chevron-Texaco corporation. But despite its three times conviction and a $9.5 billion damages award to the victims, the oil giant looks no closer to making good its damage.
… Miriam Gartor | 17th July 2015 News Oil Waste Pollution Ecuador Indigenous Peoples … After 20 years of oil spills, deforestation, waste dumping and ill health, farmers and … the nearly one thousand pools Texaco dug for waste disposal from its oil extraction …
Interface's sustainability model shows how large industrial companies can slash their carbon emissions and other environmental impacts without compromising profitability, reports Sophie Morlin-Yron. The key is to aim high!
… May 2014 Comment Corporations Green Economy Waste Recycling Energy fishing-net-cut.jpg … manufacturing processes and has attained zero waste to landfill in its European facilities … gas created by anaerobic digestion of fish waste, which is filtered to natural gas and …
In its haste to get fracking, the UK Government is neglecting safe, clean alternatives that could be providing low-carbon gas and heat energy, writes Keith Barnham. The technologies are already well established in other European countries and are picking up fast here too - so why the insistence that only fossil fuels can deliver the UK's energy needs?
… freezer cabinets running efficiently. The waste heat, from the air-conditioning in … be used in any building where recycling of waste heat is possible, for example from air … computers or manufacturing. Biomethane from waste The third alternative is biogas, also …
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 …
It's the fossil fuel industry's latest stroke of genius - a coal substitute that's cheaper, dirtier and more toxic than coal itself, writes Ben Whitford. The waste product of refining heavy oil from Canada's tar sands, petcoke is stored in open mountains around Chicago's 'Slag Valley', sending plumes of sticky black dust over poor neighborhoods every time the wind blows.
… | 9th December 2014 News Fossil Fuel Cities Waste Pollution USA Oil Corporations Politics … than coal itself, writes Ben Whitford. The waste product of refining heavy oil from … of petroleum coke, or petcoke - a powdery waste product left over from refining heavy …
Modern industrial capitalism is based on a simple premise, writes Derrick Jensen: our mother Earth is a great store of raw materials for us to pillage, and a vast trashcan for our endless volumes of waste, no matter how long-lived and deadly. How can this be changed? First we must regain our own sanity.
… it! Derrick Jensen | 4th March 2015 Comment Waste Pollution Corporations Society … a vast trashcan for our endless volumes of waste, no matter how long-lived and deadly. … should we do about this culture's industrial wastes, from greenhouse gases to pesticides to …
The NHS is buying drugs from pharmaceutical companies in India whose dirty production methods are fuelling the rise of superbugs, write Andrew Wasley & Madlen Davies. There are no checks or regulations in place to stop this happening - even though the rapid growth in antibiotic resistant bacteria in India is spreading across the world, including to the UK and NHS hospitals.
… inside the plants. This suggests industrial waste containing active antibiotic ingredients … us it currently has no regulations around waste, and neither does the European Medicines … manufacturing plants as well as rivers and wastewater treatment plants - and found 16 …
Last week the consortium holding a £22bn contract to clean up the Sellafield nuclear site was sacked, writes David Lowry. But this is just the end of a long and scandalous tale of corporate profit at taxpayers' expense, and the active collusion of ministers and senior officials in fighting off Parliamentary scrutiny.
… David Lowry | 19th January 2015 News Nuclear Waste Politics UK Corporations … director of Sellafield, the giant nuclear waste processing plant on the Cumbian coast in … following nuclear accident at the Low-level Waste Repository at Drigg, for the new …
Nuclear giant EDF could be heading towards bankruptcy, writes Paul Brown, as it faces a perfect storm of under-estimated costs for decommissioning, waste disposal and Hinkley C. Meanwhile income from power sales is lagging behind costs, and 17 of its reactors are off-line for safety tests. Yet French and UK governments are turning a blind eye to the looming financial crisis.
… of under-estimated costs for decommissioning, waste disposal and Hinkley C. Meanwhile income … thorny problem of disposing of the nuclear waste and spent fuel rods, which are building … should be added to cost of handling nuclear waste, the report says. Juan Camilo Rodriguez, …
London-listed copper giant Antofagasta has been entangled in scandals in Chile involving water depletion, dangers to local communities, corruption of national politics and environmental contamination, write Ali Maeve & Liam Barrington-Bush. Yet the London Stock Exchange remains silent. Following the company's AGM last week, a new London Mining Network report puts their actions and operations into the spotlight.
… into the spotlight. The biggest mining waste tailings dam in Latin America is … a capacity of 1.7 billion tonnes of mine waste , making it the largest tailings dam in … mining operations. Cheap disposal of mining waste has been an important way the group have …