ANOTHER PLANET
UK retailer Tesco has seen 28,500 tonnes of food thrown away in the first six months of this year, the supermarket giant has revealed for the first time. The company said it would be dropping some food promotions, such as some 'buy one get one free' offers, after it was shown two-thirds of produce grown for bagged salad is thrown out. It also revealed families are wasting around £700 of food a year. As a result of the findings, it is to end multi-buys on large bags of salad and is developing mix-and-match promotions for smaller bags in a bid to help customers reduce the amount they are wasting. The retailer found that 40% of apples are wasted, as are just under half of bakery items. A quarter of grapes are wasted between the vine and the fruit bowl and a fifth of all bananas are unused - with customers throwing one in 10 in the bin. More here http://www.channel4.com/news/food-waste-tesco-bagged-salad-28500-tonnes-bin.
Virgin Atlantic has claimed that travelling by air is greener than travelling by car. In its 2013 sustainability programme update, published this week, the airline states that last year its CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre (PK) fell to 119.3g. This is "interesting", the company states, given that in the UK the average new car emissions were "133.1gCO2/km in 2012". The airline said the fall in UK emissions is due to carrying "more passengers at higher load factors" and Virgin Atlantic claimed that its $2bn (£1.2bn) fleet upgrade has resulted in up to 30% less carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on some of its flights.David Cameron has defended plans to build the UK's first new nuclear power plant in a generation. The Prime Minister said that the new Hinkley C facility in Somerset will generate enough electricity to power nearly 6 million homes once operational, bring 900 permanent jobs to the area and create around 25,000 jobs during construction. French firm EDF will be guaranteed TWICE the current market price for electricity it generates from the new plant. The Chancellor, George Osborne, has announced that Chinese companies will be allowed to take a stake - including potential future majority stakes - in the development of the next generation of British nuclear power.
Sky has reduced its 'carbon intensity' by 33% since 2008-9 as the broadcaster begins to "realise the gains" made from its long-term investment in renewable and low-carbon sources of energy. Absolute carbon emissions remained stable at 100,045 tonnes. Six per cent of Sky's energy now comes from renewables, with a target of 20% by 2020. Fleet efficiency has also been increased by 5%, with 15% the turn of the decade target. Business travel is an area where significant progress has been made: CO2 emissions per full-time employee have been cut by 18%, with the aim to hit 20% by 2020.Captured cow burbs could be transformed into a new natural gas. Argentina's National Institute of Agricultural Technology has developed a system to channel digestive gases from cattle into storage for onward use.Bushfires raging across a 200 mile front in New South Wales plus could merge to form a 'mega blaze' fears the the state's Fire Service Commissioner. Over 60 active fires are still out of control, fuelled by dry hot weather and strong winds. http://www.aol.co.uk/video/australia-firefighters-prepare-for-worst/517982819/Hundreds of homes in London have been left without recycling facilities according to the London Standard, A botched outsourcing scheme to 'manage' Barnet Council's refuse and recycling has meant new contractor SIS Schaeffer has failed to provide proper bins for 500 households - who shpuld now have refuse, recycling, food and compost bins. Rubbish remains uncollected after workers refused to collect refuse and recycling in 'old' bins despite the fact no replacements had been provided by SIS.Terra Firma, the investment house behind the failed EMI takeover headed up by Guy Hands,, is floating it's Infinis renewable energy business which is expected to be valued at £1.5 billion. The company has moved from generating electricity from waste to a new drive into wind power from onshore wind farms.