Leading British anaerobic digestion outfit Biogen has been hit with a fin of £5,000 for the pollution of a part of a stream in Bedfordshire. Bedford's Magistrates’ Court found that Biogen was guilty of a breach of its environmental permit at Clapham Biogas Plant back in November 2010, which is when liquid digestate that came from one of its tanks entered a tributary of Ravensden Brook. This incident was triggered  by one of the pumps on an anaerobic digester being left on overnight, which lead to a considerably large quantity of digestate overflowing into a nearby field, as alleged by the ... Full Story

Microsoft has made a commitment to going carbon neutral by joining a growing list of giants attempting to reduce their current environmental footprint. It was a blog post on Microsoft's website that told of how the company would commit to ensuring that its offices, buildings, air travel, datacentres, and software labs are all carbon neutral by the start of July, which also marks the beginning of the financial year. Kevin Turner, Microsoft's chief operating officer, said that  working on issues of energy use or environmental change will provide another opportunity to start making a difference, which is the right thing for the company to ... Full Story

H&M is now using organic hemp in its clothing range, insisting that all of its cotton is to be sourced from completely sustainable sources by the year 2020. The retailer's move is a part of its ongoing sustainability programme. Today, the high street giant published its Conscious Actions Sustainability Report for 2011. In the report, it is alleged that H&M uses the world's most organic cotton - 7.6 per cent - in the overall cotton it uses to manufacture its products. Last autumn saw the launch of the first-ever H&M organic hemp clothing collection, with its first 'Better Cotton' denims at the ... Full Story

SITA's energy-from-waste incinerator, located, in St Dennis, Cornwall will go ahead - after a Court of Appeal ruling in favour of the Coalition to approve planning permission this morning. The proposed Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre, known as CERC, was granted planning consent in May 2011 by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles. However, opponents to the incinerator legally challenged the overturning of the decision by London’s High Court last year in October. Pickles launched a challenge at the High Court's ruling in November, and the decision he made to grant permission was then upheld by today's Court of Appeal verdict. SITA UK's project director, ... Full Story

Spanish wind turbine giant Gamesa has announced an intention to establish a new £125 million wind turbine plant at an as-of-yet unspecified location in the Port of Leith. Gamesa's announcement follows a British search of locations that are deemed suitable to establish a factory. It is expected that at least 1,000 jobs will be created through the construction of Gamesa’s huge offshore wind turbines as well as the generator units to go with them. The decision from Gamesa signifies a boost for Scotland’s renewable plans as well as a political triumph for Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, the man preparing to ask ... Full Story

Supermarkets and manufacturers will be forced to donate surplus food to charities by law in order to  cut-down the "scandalous" amounts of food that is wasted in the UK, as part of proposals for the food waste bill, drawn up by Bristol East Labour MP Kerry McCarthy. The food waste bill will be brought forward under Parliament's 10-minute ruling, which allows MPs the right to try and bring-in private members' bills. The bill already had cross-party support before receiving its first reading this week, and supporters believe that it will be successful in drawing attention to a specific issue of growing environmental concern. Ms McCarthy ... Full Story

A ‘winner takes all’ stance on the sale of textiles around London might strip charities of the ability to raise funds, textile recycling group TRAID has warned. TRAID, one of the front-running textile recycling charities operative in the UK, has voiced its concerns after the publication of the report that details proposals for one pan-London consortium contract that would see textiles being collected from bring banks. The idea is currently being investigated by LwaRB, the London Waste and Recycling Board, and London Councils. It has been hoped that moves to a consortia contract might save London local authorities much-needed money through ... Full Story

Any ban that prevents sending food waste to landfills should be properly planned so that short term chaos is avoided, as warned by a member of the Visionary Panel. The idea of this group coming together was encouraged by food waste business PDM with the first-ever meeting held last week. The commercial director of PDM, Philip Simpson, said that food waste will always be an important resource but that it goes to waste by being allowed to rot in UK landfills. The Visionary Panel aims to see a roadmap developed with key focuses being to see food waste eradicated from landfill by ... Full Story

Leading British business group the CBI called on Chancellor George Osborne to merge CRC, the Carbon Reduction Commitment, with CCL, the Climate Change Levy. The merger would come as part of a new set of reforms to Britain's tax system that aim to stimulate growth and investment across the UK economy. Prior to the Budget meeting held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer next month, John Cridland's CBI's director-general has written to Lib-Dem Osborne and demaned that he reform green taxes. Cridland's letter is accompanied by the CBI's formal Budget submission, in which it has set out a string of proposals to ... Full Story

The Co-operative Group has managed to smash its reduction target for carbon emissions by 35 per cent, meeting it this year instead of before 2017. The huge cut in emissions places the Co-operative Group miles ahead of other UK businesses in terms of hitting such a progressive target in a short amount of time. This reduction is just one of many environment targets to be reached ahead of schedule by Britain's largest mutual, currently owned by over six million members. The company achieved a whopping cut of 15 per cent in absolute emissions last year from a 2006 baseline –  which means ... Full Story

Giant steel boilers at an ex-Gloucestershire nuclear power station will be shipped to Sweden so that they can be recycled. Five 22m long boilers, which each weigh over 300 tonnes, will be taken from Magnox Berkeley power station in March. Swedish-based outfit Studsvik was awarded a lucrative £8m contract to make sure that the boilers are recycled. A spokesman from Magnox said that the developments mark a major milestone in Berkeley's decommissioning, with the power station having ceased all electricity production nearly 23 years ago. Constructed at the back end of the 1950s, Magnox Berkeley is the first UK nuclear power station ... Full Story

Nottingham-based waste management experts Wastecycle will invest £2.5 million and double the capacity of their materials recycling facility at Colwick, in the city’s eastern suburbs. As it stands, the MRF currently has capacity enough to sort roughly 30,000 tonnes of dry recyclable waste a year. With help from the investment, this will be extended to 60,000 tonnes per year. Equipment that includes a ballistic separator will be installed by KMH Ltd, an Irish company. The investment is to be made in accordance with the new five-year contract that was won by Wastecycle for sorting dry recyclables on the behalf of Nottingham’s city ... Full Story