Probably not…
The good news is that the UK’s new environmental Secretary has finally said that he’s not a climate change sceptic, after days of speculation. However, he is worried that many of the things designed to alleviate the problem, such as wind turbines and energy crops make the situation worse. Oh well. While Owen Patterson is genning up on the latest research from the UEA and UN IPCC, perhaps he should also look back through some of the mainstream news stories from the summer…
Wood chip being laid in Hyde Park ahead of Hard Rock Calling. Picture from London Evening Standard
As I write this, it’s a beautiful September morning with the sun shining and the appalling wet weather of the spring and early summer seems a thing of the past.
The effect of the summer wash out on outdoor events has been well recorded. Rural businesses have lost millions, events and festivals cancelled and disrupted…
What about those outdoor events that did go ahead, but with steps to minimise the effects of mud on visitors. Both Latitude in Suffolk and Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park imported large amounts of wood chip, with the latter using some 8 million litres (by my reckoning, that could be as much as 3,500 tonnes!).
What happens to all this material once its put down. It’s obviously no use as a fuel, although that amount should keep a 500 kW boiler going nicely for a year or so. Can it be composted, or is it just left to rot on the ground?
Answers on a postcard please…
According to data compiled for this week’s BioenergyWeekly newsletter, the biggest fallers in feedstock last week were US soybeans and Malaysian palm oil, falling by 1.9% and 3.5% respectively on the week…
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Does forcing people to seperate their recyclables encourage recycling, or switch them off? Picture: edie.
To seperate or not to seperate, that is the question…
Just a couple of weeks ago it was reported that local authorities in the UK will have to force residents to separate their recyclables by law. This is fine if you are a bean eating, tree hugging environmentalist, but surely it’s not the best way to get people to recycle?
Our local authority, South Holland in Lincolnshire, not only provides weekly collections for both black bag waste and recyclables, but also co-mingles the latter. Eschewing wheelie bins in much of its rural area it relies on green bags (issued to householders), as well as any spare cardboard boxes, clear bags or similar that people wish to use.
South Holland District Council achieved a recycling rate of 32.84% in 2008/09. True, this is a long way off the 61.84% achieved by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council at the top of the table, but it’s also more than double the worst performing authority – Ashford in Kent.
So, why is co-mingling a dirty word? South-Holland’s two container evidently works better than many other councils with greater degrees of sorting, and the technology exists to sort recyclable waste efficiently. In fact, the recent experience of Biffa suggests that co-mingling makes recycling easier, boosting rates. It should also help secure feedstocks for EfW plants.
I might not agree with everything our council does, but on waste collection, apart from not collecting green waste, they deserve a big thumbs up!
There’s no doubt that Tuesday’s cabinet reshuffle resulted in a number of pro-environmental and pro-farming ministers replaced with more right wing and skeptical bodies, but how disastrous will it really be for the UK’s green ambitions and, more importantly given the state of the economy, the UK green sector?
Now that the dust has settled, we can ignore the reasoned and measured (NOT) response of left wing commentators like George Moanybloke and gaze into our crystal ball…
