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UK government 'being dragged screaming' to tackle air pollution
MPs say ministers are showing no confidence in tackling the illegal levels of air pollution that prematurely kill an estimated 40,000 people a year
Ministers have been accused of having to be “dragged screaming” to tackle illegal levels of air pollution across the UK, which kills an estimated 40,000 people a year prematurely.
Neil Parish, co-chair of a parliamentary inquiry into air quality, told ministers from the Treasury, environment, transport and local government departments they were showing no confidence that they would tackle toxic air pollution as soon as possible.
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'Shocking' rise in rubbish washing up on UK beaches
Annual survey by the Marine Conservation Society records 10% rise in litter in 2017 - with much of it plastic
The rubbish washing up on the UK’s beaches is continuing to increase, rising by 10% in 2017, the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) annual beach clean has revealed.
Much of the waste is plastic, leading the MCS to call on the government to urgently introduce a charge on single-use plastic items, such as straws, cups and cutlery. The chancellor, Philip Hammond, recently announced the government is considering such action.
Continue reading...Co-op and Iceland back bottle deposit scheme to reduce plastic pollution
Retailers in favour of setting up mandatory system in England and Wales after government sought views on idea
Iceland and the Co-op have become the first supermarkets to support a bottle deposit scheme after the government sought views on the idea to reduce plastic pollution in the oceans.
The retailers came out in favour of setting up a mandatory deposit return scheme (DRS) in England and Wales as the environment secretary, Michael Gove, began to review the results of a seven-week consultation on whether to introduce a system to increase recycling rates of plastic bottles and reduce leakage into the oceans.
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Meters urgently needed after Barwon-Darling water theft allegations, report says
Ken Matthews, who is in charge of fixing NSW’s water administration, says he is ‘disappointed’ at lack of progress on prosecutions
Modern water meters need to be rolled out as a matter of urgency in the Barwon-Darling river system and prosecutions launched against breaches, the man charged with fixing New South Wales’s water administration has warned.
Immediately after the ABC Four Corners program that alleged large-scale water theft and meter tampering by some irrigators, the state government asked water expert Ken Matthews to review the system.
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Mynas v miners: they might be swooping menaces but they're not all bad
Know your miner from your myna. Both are aggressive in different ways – discover why we’re killing one but never the other
• Vote for Australia’s bird of the year
A kookaburra nestles on my balcony and belts its deliciously rambunctious laugh, like an ape in a zoo. But, mid-cackle, it is interrupted by a series of urgent, high-pitched screams like sirens.
Three miner birds flutter in its face, screaming hysterically at it. At first, the kookaburra just gives the unrelenting interlopers an unblinking, nonchalant death stare before eventually giving in and moving on. The miners follow it and chase it out of the neighbourhood.
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