Consumer addiction to dietary supplements and functional foods is driving the nutraceuticals industry, our investigation found

April 2012 Subscribers Newsletter

Ecologist

6th April, 2012

Welcome to April's newsletter, featuring all our investigations published during March. These include an exclusive look at the rise of so-called 'nutraceuticals', and a follow up to last year's disturbing probe into the human victims of antibiotic 'poisoning', otherwise known as adverse reactions. This month we reveal which prescription drugs are most likely to harm or kill you... according to official UK data. To access your PDF log in and scroll down to the bottom of the page

Editorial: greening our waste

Dr Susanne Charlesworth

A lack of practical uses for garden and kitchen waste collected from homes means that a proportion of this ‘green’ compost goes to landfill. Around three million tonnes of green waste is sorted by households for recycling each year and the figure continues to rise. Much of this compost has been spread on farmland (around 47per cent), and the finer compost is eventually re-used in gardens as a peatless compost - but the problem lies with the coarser compost (with particles more than 25 mm) which appear to have no obvious use.

Our research for WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) has looked at the potential of coarser grades of both green and mixed green and food composts for use in sustainable drainage (SUDS). SUDs include a variety of devices among them porous paving systems, grassed rooftops, constructed wetlands, swales (grassed ditches), vegetated barriers, retention and detention ponds. This approach allows large volumes of water...

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