The first homes in a new pilot gas project will receive gas generated from human waste. A new facility, which is now opened in Didcot, Oxfordshire, will spearhead the project, which will be the first scheme to produce renewable gas for the National Grid. The plant is expected to be able to supply 200 homes with the alternative gas. In a joint venture between British Gas, Scotia Gas Networks and Thames Water, it is hoped that the pilot could make up 15 per cent of domestic gas needs by 2020. Using anaerobic digestion the plant will produce biogas yielded from sewage waste ... Full Story

Thames Water has announced the development of a new process that uses phosphorus and ammonia from waste water to make eco-friendly fertiliser. The idea, which will be introduced at the firm’s waste water facility in Slough, comes in the wake of a similar experiment successfully conducted in North America. The Slough plant has been running a pilot of the process since March 2010. Today, the firm announced that it will move the process to full scale after the pilot proved widely successful. The process, which uses excess nutrients in the water recycling them into environmentally safe fertiliser, is being heralded as a ... Full Story

Patients have been urged to stop stockpiling prescription drugs after the NHS revealed upwards of 250 tonnes of prescription pills have been wasted. A new campaign has been launched to reduce the amount of medical waste in Wales. With the goal of saving £50m of NHS money, the campaign will seek to urge patients to order the correct amounts of medicine and not request more until a first round of pills is finished. The government-sponsored drive, which follows a scheme that was piloted in west Wales, will be backed by local medics and include adverts on the radio as well as leaflets ... Full Story

Alberta, Canada's governing body said Thursday that it would charge Suncor Energy with nine charges in the case against the energy firm alleging that it mishandled storm water runoff at a northern Alberta oil sands site in May 2008. In a statement to the firm, the Alberta government said that the company had failed to follow proper water-management plans providing for storm water runoff. Instead, the government has accused Suncor of allowing the storm water to mix with dirt and water from the construction site and flow freely into the Athabasca River. Suncor, which has thus far declined to comment, is also ... Full Story

A waste transfer facility has been closed in Surrey, BC after an unknown gas leak was identified at the plant. Nine employees were removed from the facillity after they began to complain of headaches, respiratory problems and sore throats. Assistant Fire Chief in Surrey, Jo Deluca said that the workers reported feeling better as soon as they had been removed from the building. He added that the fire department is currently examining the cause of the irritation, which is believed to be a gas leak. Lorne West, Surrey's fire battalion Chief, said that the team of firefighters along with a hazardous waste ... Full Story

A joint research team from China and the US has been studying the effects of e-waste recycling on both people and the environment. Recycled electronic waste may be the next major environmental issue on the horizon for developing countries as they try to deal with high pollution levels and a degrading environment. Scientists have now uncovered that the chemicals and toxins emitted by recycling e-waste could pose severe environmental and health risks. Scientists in both China and the US used various toxic elements, separated from a recycling workshop at an e-waste facility within China’s Shantou City. Using base technology, they filtered out ... Full Story

Operators at a nuclear site in Dounreay in Caithness could be facing prosecution after a dangerous radiation leak has affected a group of employees. As many as nine workers have been exposed to high levels of radioactivity while operating at the intermediate level waste centre. The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate said that it will prepare a report to be used by the procurator fiscal. The site also experienced a fire in May, which the inspectorate is also preparing a report for. It said that the incident was most likely caused by poor segregation of materials and a failure to keep house properly. Fire ... Full Story

Russian opposition party Yabloko has sent several dozen protestors into central Moscow in defiance of a planned nuclear waste dumping arriving from Germany. Arriving today, the protestors have begun to vocalise a growing discontentment with the approval of the transfer of the toxic waste. Banners and signs have been unrolled to demonstrate their sentiments. Slogans included “Nuclear Waste? No Thanks!”. The majority of the protests are taking place outside of the Germany embassy located near the centre of the city. In a scheduled transport arriving from Germany, a total of 951 nuclear fuel rods are designated to arrive for ... Full Story

Scientists have produced a new biofuel made from whiskey that will not only utilise waste by-products from whiskey production but can also guarantee that 30 per cent more power can  be provided than traditional ethanol fuels. The new fuel, which can be placed into any car with no necessary adaptations, also boasts the advantage of being a highly-concentrated ethanol-based fuel. Researchers from Edinburgh Napier University are responsible for the development of the fuel and used by-products from whiskey distilling from Diageo’s Glenkinchie Distillery from East Lothian. The two-year research project was funded by the Scottish Enterprise’s ‘Proof of Concept’ scheme, who provided ... Full Story

A seminar is scheduled for next month that might lead to future developments in the production of cheap carpets manufactured using recycled materials. The innovative new move from Carpet Recycling UK could see materials re-used to make cheap carpets available for purchase. The event was announced this week and will be held at the Harrogate Flooring Show from 11:00 to 12:00 BST beginning 6 September. According to reports, the event will feature three ... Full Story

Old tyres are historically difficult to dispose of in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way. Often getting tossed aside in landfills, researchers at the Tubitak Marmara Research Centre in Turkey have found a new way to recover old tyres for recycling. Using sand to react with the old rubber, scientists in Gebze, Turkey are able to turn the used tyres into silicon carbide, a material that can garner up to €10,000 per tonne. Commerically called carborundum, the silicon carbide is made up from carbon and silicon atoms that arrange in a diamond-like shape. The result is a material with diamond-like properties. The substance retains ... Full Story

A new bunker designed to store low-level radioactive waste has opened in West Cumbria. The £22 million facility, designed by LLW Repository Ltd, will have the capacity to hold 110,000 cubic metres of low-hazard nuclear refuse. The company, which built the facility at it's site in Drigg, said that the bunker would become a vital storage device as UK's nuclear decommissioning initiative continues to move forward. Among the low-level nuclear waste, items will include protective clothing, demolition rubble and by-products from deconstruction. Dick Raaz, LLW Repository Ltd's managing director, said that the Drigg site would become a vital organ in the UK's ... Full Story