Tag Archives: UK
Call to stop trade in toxic e-waste
The international system intended to stop illegal hazardous waste exports is not working, the head of a UK watchdog has warned. In a speech last week to INTERPOL, the UK Environment Agency chair Lord Smith called for a European alliance to tackle the toxic trade in electrical waste into Africa. He said better cooperation and […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged E-waste, Electronics TakeBack Coalition, Environment Agency, INTERPOL Comments closed
Cancer surge supports case against pesticides
A ‘dramatic’ increase in a range of occupational and childhood cancers has been linked to pesticide exposures. Public health researchers, writing in a new report for the Chemicals, Health and Environment Monitoring Trust (CHEM Trust), call on the UK government to step up action to ban the most harmful pesticides and to bring in a […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Andrew Watterson, Britain, cancer, CHEM Trust, Gwynne Lyons, pesticides, precautionary principle Comments closed
Oil companies all fail the safety test
Members of the US Congress tore into the big energy corporations on 15 June for filing almost identical Gulf of Mexico oil spill response plans – which included contact details for a deceased scientist and steps to protect marine mammals not found in the region’s waters. Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell all have identical response […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged BP, Chevron, compensation fund, ConocoPhillips, Exxon-Mobil, President Obama, Shell, US Comments closed
Competition: Spot the idiotic inconsistency
It’s a story that owes more to the ostrich than the oil covered pelican. The 14 June screen grab from the front page of the UK Prime Minister’s website shows David Cameron in a phone call to US President Barack Obama, discussing the Gulf of Mexico oil spill calamity. Cameron’s spokesperson commented: “The prime minister […]
Watchdog ‘interventions’ at deadly waste firms
Major UK waste and recycling firms are to be the target of “central interventions” by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in a bid to address the sector’s appalling health and safety record. HSE says it is acting after its first targeted waste programme “arrested the rising accident rate and brought about a small reduction” but […]
Toxins were recycled in recycling firm air
One of the UK’s largest recycling firms and its director have been fined a total of £145,000 for “shocking” safety breaches that exposed workers to mercury fumes. Twenty employees of Electrical Waste Recycling Group Ltd (EWR), formerly known as Matrix Direct Recycling Ltd, had levels of mercury in their system above UK guidance levels at […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Britain, Electrical Waste Recycling Group, lead, mercury, Recycling Comments closed
What’s union, green and read all over?
There’s been a flurry of activity from the US national union confederation AFL-CIO, as it fleshes out its green jobs activities. And you can find out all about it in regular online briefings. The National Labor College (NLC) and the AFL-CIO’s Center for Green Jobs have launched a monthly online Green Labor Journal to outline […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged AFL-CIO, Britain, Center for Green Jobs, TUC, USA Comments closed
Confused UK recycling sector is really deadly
If you work in waste and recycling in the UK, you might not be reassured to hear it has a work fatality rate nine times the national average. And you might be even more alarmed when you hear some privatisation-happy local authorities are clueless when it comes to their legal responsibility to keep you safe. […]
USA: Green jobs can be just as deadly