Deposit return scheme proposed in England to fight plastic waste

The UK Government has put forward plans to introduce a deposit return scheme to dramatically reduce the amount of waste from drinks.

UK Government looks to deposit return scheme to cut plastic waste.

Single use containers, either plastic, glass, or metal, could soon be subject to a small charge which consumers will get back if they return the item. Businesses involved are then responsible for the bottle.

Similar schemes in other European countries have seen an increase in recycling rates; in Germany, it has helped recycling rates climb to an astonishing 97 percent.

Read the ClimateAction story - “Deposit return scheme proposed in England to fight plastic waste.”

In 2020 Bitcoin will consume more power than the world does today

Can the world afford Bitcoin? The cryptocurrency is enjoying something of a resurgence as investment and central banks weighed its benefits and caused its value to balloon.

A single Bitcoin transaction could power a house for a month.

But generating Bitcoin requires a truly staggering amount of energy. The electricity used in a single Bitcoin transaction, for instance, could power a house for a month.

And bitcoin mining (the process of generating a bitcoin) now consumes the same amount of electricity every year as Denmark - 33TWh, according to one recent report.

Read the World Economic Forum story by Adam Jezard - “In 2020 Bitcoin will consume more power than the world does today.”

Flying home for Christmas? Carbon offsets are important, but they won’t fix plane pollution

But all this travel comes at a cost. According to the Global Sustainable Tourism Dashboard, all Australian domestic trips and one-way international journeys (the other half is attributed to the end point of travel) amount to 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide for 2016. That is 2.7% of global aviation emissions, despite a population of only 0.3% of the global total.

Flying home for Christmas.

Australia is an important player in the global tourism business. In 2016, 8.7 million visitors arrived in Australia and 8.8 million Australians went overseas. A further 33.5 million overnight trips were made domestically.

The peak month of air travel in and out of Australia is December. Christmas is the time where people travel to see friends and family, or to go on holiday. More and more people are aware of the carbon implications of their travel and want to know whether, for example, they should purchase carbon offsets or not.

Read the piece on The Conversation by Susan Becken and Brendan Mackey - “Flying home for Christmas? Carbon offsets are important, but they won’t fix plane pollution.”

The 150-Mile Wardrobe: A Solution for One of the World’s Most Polluting Industries

Between pesticides, chemical dyes, and plastic, producing a typical sweater eats an enormous amount of natural and industrial resources. Apparel is one of the world’s most polluting industries, and the U.S. sends up to 75 percent of its cotton abroad—only to ship it back as cheap T-shirts.

Fibershed founder Rebecca Burgess, Mike Lewis of Growing
Warriors in Kentucky, and Arnie Valdez of Rezolana Institute
 in Colorado collaborate on hemp processing.

The Northern California Fibershed was designed to circumvent all that.

About 104 farmers, ranchers, weavers, spinners, and designers across 19 counties make up a garment-producing system where every producer uses materials sourced within a 150-mile radius: A shop in Oakland buys marigolds from a farm in Chico to dye yarn shorn from sheep in Sonoma and weaves it into sweaters sold in San Francisco.

The concept started in 2010 when textile artist and sustainability advocate Rebecca Burgess challenged herself for one year to wear only clothes produced near her community.

Read the Yes! Magazine story by Araz Hachadourian - “The 150-Mile Wardrobe: A Solution for One of the World’s Most Polluting Industries.”

206% of Scotland’s entire electricity needs provided by wind power

According to researchers, wind turbines produced double the amount of electricity required to power the whole of Scotland.

Wind produces double the power needed by Scotland. 

WWF Scotland have released findings from their analysis of data provided by Weather Energy.

They found that on 2 October, 86,467MWh was provided to the national grid by wind turbines, which is more than double the country’s total daily electricity needs.

Read the Energy Digital story by Sophie Chapman - “206% of Scotland’s entire electricity needs provided by wind power.”