Europe votes to slash plastic bag use

Europe votes to slash plastic bag use

Author: Reuters
Source: ABC
Date: 22 April, 2014
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT passed a directive on Wednesday aimed at cutting the use of thin single-use plastic carrier bags by 50 per cent by 2017 and 80 per cent two years later. The directive leaves it to individual states to choose their strategy, for example taxing bags or banning them. EU ministe...
CSIRO study finds some of Australia's remote beaches are most polluted

CSIRO study finds some of Australia’s remote beaches are most polluted

Author: Jake Sturmer
Source: ABC
Date: 11 April, 2014
A new study of Australia's dirtiest and cleanest beaches has revealed some surprising results. CSIRO researchers have spent two years surveying Australia's entire coastline, counting rubbish on sections of sand and sea every 100 kilometres.  The survey of more than 175 beaches found the dirtiest ...
This edible water blob could replace plastic bottles

This edible water blob could replace plastic bottles

Source: Springwise.com
Date: 10 April, 2014
Plastic water bottles have long been recognised as a big problem for the environment, so much so that San Francisco recently banned the sale of bottled water on city property. But a new invention from a group of UK students could offer a solution. Ooho! is a spherical membrane for carrying water...
Plane Search Shows World's Oceans Are Full of Trash

Plane Search Shows World’s Oceans Are Full of Trash

Author: Laura Parker
Source: National Geographic
Date: 07 April, 2014
Before Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing, sea trash was not a global headliner. But as hundreds of objects sighted off the Australian coast as possible aircraft debris turn out to be discarded fishing equipment, cargo container parts, or plastic shopping bags, a new narrative is emerging ...
Italy to deploy army to combat illegal waste dumping by mafia

Italy to deploy army to combat illegal waste dumping by mafia

Author: ABC
Source: ABC
Date: 15 January, 2014
The Italian government has agreed to send in the army to fight the mafia, which it blames for illegally dumping tonnes of toxic garbage in an area dubbed the "Triangle of Death". Toxic waste has been buried in Campania province for decades, ever since the local Camorra crime syndicate decided to br...
The world has fresh water, but it’s full of poison

The world has fresh water, but it’s full of poison

Author: Peter Fisher
Source: The Conversation
Date: 19 December, 2013
Images of the typhoon-ravaged Philippines were terribly confronting, vividly conveying what an angry planet can dish up. But amid the destruction and death, an important point was largely missed: the world’s freshwater supplies are being degraded by a seemingly endless sequence of extreme events. ...
E-trash to leap by a third by 2017

E-trash to leap by a third by 2017

Author: AAP
Source: SBS
Date: 16 December, 2013
Electronic and electrical gadgets that have reached the end of their life are expected to jump by a third in volume by 2017, a rise that poses mighty challenges for sorting and recycling, according to figures published on Sunday. By the end of 2017, the total annual volume from refrigerators, TVs, ...
Pics in the bin, Fridgecam and the digital war on waste

Pics in the bin, Fridgecam and the digital war on waste

Author: Rob Comber
Source: The Conversation
Date: 03 December, 2013
Our awareness of food waste is increasing all the time, yet we continue to throw away vast amounts of produce even when we don’t need to. We are getting tired of being lectured on our habits so its time to start thinking practically about how to change our ways, and digital technologies can pl...
Slime and poo: making energy and treating waste

Slime and poo: making energy and treating waste

Author: Christopher Doyle
Source: ABC
Date: 03 December, 2013
THINK OF THE WORD "raceway" and images of fast cars and chequered flags probably spring to mind. But for Associate Professor Tryg Lundquist, an environmental engineer at California State Polytechnic University, the term conjures up a very different image; one of a green algal slurry flowing thro...
Australian waters polluted by harmful tiny plastics

Australian waters polluted by harmful tiny plastics

Author: Julia Reisser & Charitha Pattiaratchi
Source: The Conversation
Date: 28 November, 2013
Each square kilometre of Australian sea surface water is contaminated by around 4,000 pieces of tiny plastics, according to our study published today in journal PLOS ONEand data repository Dryad. These small plastic fragments, mostly less than 5mm across, are loaded with pollutants that can negat...

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