Environment news

• A day in the life of a ranger – video

  18-12-2018 20:33
  Australia has more than 500 national parks covering 28 million hectares - almost 4% of the country.
  Protecting and maintaining these treasures falls to our park rangers, who undertake a multi-faceted role that includes protecting biodiversity, managing visitors and maintaining facilities and paths.Guardian Australia heads to Victoria’s Grampians national park to follow ranger Connor Smith around for a day where we learn there’s more to being a park ranger than you might think Continu
  
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• Blind creature that buries head in sand named after Donald Trump

  18-12-2018 19:16
  Amphibian’s behaviour compared to US president’s approach to global warmingA newly discovered blind and burrowing amphibian is to be officially named Dermophis donaldtrumpi, in recognition of the US president’s climate change denial.The name was chosen by the boss of EnviroBuild, a sustainable building materials company, who paid $25,000 (£19,800) at an auction for the right. The small legless creature was found in Panama and EnviroBuild’s Aidan Bell said its abilit
  
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• Nasa's New Horizons probe on course for historic flyby

  18-12-2018 18:35 via bbc.co.uk
  Ex-Pluto spacecraft New Horizons maintains the trajectory taking it to its next dramatic encounter.
  
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• Christmas shoppers warned to avoid plastic toys due to toxin levels

  18-12-2018 16:49
  Toys feature in more than half of EU alerts for products containing banned chemicals Christmas shoppers are being warned to avoid plastic toys after they appeared in more than half of EU intergovernmental alerts for products containing banned chemicals this year.In all, 290 of the 563 warnings sent out on the EU’s rapid alert system concerned toys with illegally high levels of toxins, most of which were plastic dolls, and all of which could be on sale on British high streets. Continue read
  
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• Seal pups across the UK are 'at risk from toxic chemicals'

  18-12-2018 15:23 via bbc.co.uk
  Seal pups across the UK are "at risk" from man-made toxic chemicals present in their mothers' milk.
  
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• Record 32,000 badgers shot in annual cull

  18-12-2018 15:06
  Scientists accuse officials of cherry-picking data to defend disease-control schemeMore than 32,000 badgers were killed in England this autumn during the annual cull, which is intended to reduce tuberculosis in cattle.Government officials claimed the culls were effective and starting to reduce prevalence of the disease in cows. But independent scientists said the officials were cherry-picking data and making up targets as they went along. Continue reading...
  
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• London Mayor unveils van scrappage scheme for small businesses

  18-12-2018 13:09
  London Mayor Sadiq Khan has today (18 December) unveiled plans for a new £23m van scrappage scheme, aimed at helping small business owners switch from old diesel vehicles to low-carbon alternatives.
  
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• WRAP: UK fashion industry moving quickly to improve environmental footprint of clothing

  18-12-2018 12:09
  The UK's fashion industry is moving at a pace to reduce carbon emissions and water waste within its supply chains, but is making far slower progress on research efficiency, new research from WRAP has concluded.
  
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• Government to fund network of 'smart' domestic EV chargers

  18-12-2018 11:23
  The UK Government has this week launched a new mandate requiring all domestic electric vehicle (EV) chargers supported by its EV Homecharge Scheme to include "smart" technologies such as remote charging and demand-response capabilities.
  
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• Ribena to launch lightweight bottles made from 100% recycled plastic

  18-12-2018 10:48
  Soft drinks firm Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS) is set to launch a lightweight redesign of its Ribena bottles in the new year, in a bid to further reduce its plastic output.
  
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• Offshore wind capacity in 2018 'smashes' previous record

  18-12-2018 08:31
  This year has seen a record-breaking amount of new UK offshore wind capacity installed, according to new figures from Renewable UK.
  
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• Waste plan floats bottle deposit scheme

  18-12-2018 02:27 via bbc.co.uk
  People will have to pay a returnable deposit on bottles, cans and disposable cups in a new strategy.
  
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• Resources and Waste Strategy: Green business community reacts

  18-12-2018 01:44
  In the newly-launched Resources and Waste Strategy, Defra has pledged to make producers pay for the full costs of recycling or disposing the packaging they produce. But how has this commitment, alongside the Strategy's other key measures, been met by members of the green community?
  
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• Major packaging reforms spearhead Resources and Waste Strategy

  18-12-2018 01:10
  A huge overhaul of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system has been proposed today (18 December) in the Government's Resources & Waste Strategy, which also includes plans for separate food waste collections and a nationwide deposit return scheme (DSR).
  
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• Packaging producers to pay full recycling costs under waste scheme

  18-12-2018 01:01
  Government strategy to make ‘polluter pay’, with penalties for difficult to recycle items Retailers and producers of packaging will be forced to pay the full cost of collecting and recycling it under the government’s new waste strategy.Supermarkets and other retailers could be charged penalties for putting difficult to recycle packaging – such as black plastic trays – on the market as part of the strategy, which aims to make the “polluter pay”. They woul
  
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