The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has announced its second wave of a new waste management project designed to involve students, teachers and education communities around Mumbai city in recycling initiatives. After completing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian government, the institute will now be able to implement the second phase of its programme. The memorandum of understanding calls for the TERI to access the state's vulnerability to global climate change. The project has been dubbed SEARCH and was previously launched nationwide back in 2009. The main goal of the scheme seeks to create awareness among educational facilities centred around sustainable ... Full Story

Thirsty residents in the south of England are being urged to take a ‘tap water test’ in a bid to cut down on waste created from bottled drinks. Councils across Dorset are urging people to go back to tap as part of a new drive to cut waste and save money and energy.   Recycling teams are heading out across the region where they are setting up stands and inviting residents to rediscover the taste ... Full Story

  The Price of Wales’s curtains are to be recycled into carrier bags as an exercise in sustainability. People attending the 12-day garden party on the Mall in London in September will be able to sow their own bags out of the former royal curtains of Clarence House.   Known as a Morsbag scheme, after founder Claire Morsman, the Prince believes it is a prime example of how people can reduce ... Full Story

    A TV campaign aiming to create awareness about recycling electronics is to be launched in the UK. Seven of the country’s biggest WEEE repocessors and producer compliance schemes are jointly funding the initiative alongside the Waste and Resource Action Programme (WRAP). The ads aim to boost the relatively low rates of recycling for electronic equipment, known as WEEE.     The project is being coordinated by contracts manager for Kent-based WEEE ... Full Story

A range of newly-released cleaning products give consumers an expanded range of choices when it comes to living in an ecologically-sound manner. When it comes to matters green, the media tends to focus on measures like recycling, green transportation measures, and efficient use of power and heating in the home. However, as consumer awareness of environmental matters expands, more are realising the effect day-to-day choices and home matters can have on the environment. Home cleaning products have long contained a range of chemicals that toxic to both the user and the environment. Consumers interested in reducing the level of toxins ... Full Story

  A boat made from plastic bottles has completed a four-month voyage from San Francisco to Sydney Harbour. The vessel, known as the Plastiki, took the 9,000 mile journey in an attempt to raise awareness of the environmental dangers of plastic waste.   In total, 12,500 bottles make up the boat which is manned by a crew of six, and hundreds turned out in Sydney to witness its triumphant docking. Environmentalist ... Full Story

The London Assembly’s environment committee is to investigate the reasons behind the wide variations in recycling rates among the 33 boroughs in the capital. Assembly Member Gareth Bacon is leading the probe for the environment committee. The study will examine the methods used to manage waste, the financial incentives used to promote recycling and attitudes towards recycling among London residents. London owns the dubious distinction of having the worst performance for recycling across all regions of England. In 2008/2009, London showed a combined municipal recycling and composting rate of just 29 per cent. The environment committee is pinning its hopes on ... Full Story

The British government is shutting down the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), the independent body monitoring and advising on sustainable development at the centre of government policy. The SDC as formed under the Labour government ten years ago and has only just released a report that details the large sums of money the government saved as a result of green policies. The UK Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, issued details of the closure in a statement that reiterated the government’s support for green policies whilst underscoring the government’s commitment to efficiency moves aimed at cutting the budget deficit. Mrs Spelman pointed to the ... Full Story

A North American recycling company is launching an online game to encourage people to build sustainable communities in the real as well as the virtual world. Waste Management, the biggest recycler in the country, is releasing Oceanopolis to social networking website Facebook in a bid to get gamers to think about cleaning up the world and conserving resources.   Oceanpolois will act as a virtual world where players can earn points by recycling virtual rubbish ... Full Story

An international project supported by the European Commission is taking bike recycling to a new level and fostering stronger international connections between local bike recycling organisations. The Talking Bikes project is aimed at giving people from different cycling countries opportunities to meet, share information and experiences and build cultural bridges. Language training is a key aspect of the programme, and participants are encouraged to learn each others’ respective tongues. Tyneside organisation Recyke Y’Bike saves bicycles from landfills, giving them new leases on life. The group also promote cycling as an environmentally-friendly form of transport. As part of the Talking Bikes programme, ... Full Story

Students at 40 schools in Ealing have been instrumental in keeping 80 tonnes of waste out of landfills. Thanks to the pupils and a recycling programme launched just a year ago, 32 tonnes of cardboard waste and 49 tonnes of food have avoided ending up in landfills this year. The recycling scheme was kicked off at the beginning of the 2009/2010 school year by Ealing Council. To begin with, only 15 schools were part of the programme, but another 25 schools joined during the year. Green-thinking kids have already demonstrated the hugely beneficial effect of their recycling efforts. Ealing Council is now ... Full Story

A photograph of Everest taken by a mountaineer in 1921 has revealed alarming loss of ice. The Asia Society (AS) arranged for climber George Mallory’s photo to be mimicked exactly in a bid to compare how Mount Everest looked in the 1920s to now. In a statement, AS said the loss of ice in the Himalaya was “startling” and that the rate of melting over the past 89 years has been “alarming.”   Mallory took ... Full Story