Paris, Tokyo, New York and others pledge to slash waste

Yahoo – AFP, August 28, 2018

A reclaimer wades through the waste at Robinson Deep landfill, Johannesburg's
largest landfill on June 29, 2018. (AFP Photo/GULSHAN KHAN)

New York (AFP) - By slashing food waste and improving waste management and recycling, 23 global cities and regions representing 150 million people pledged Tuesday to significantly cut the pollution-causing garbage they generate by 2030.

Places like New York, Tokyo, London, Paris and Sydney vowed to "cut the amount of waste generated by each citizen 15 percent by 2030," said a statement from C40 Cities, a global network dedicated to fighting climate change.

They will also "reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and incineration by 50 percent and increase the diversion rate to 70 percent by 2030," according to the declaration.

The goal of the "Advancing Towards Zero Waste Declaration" is to avoid the disposal of at least 87 million tons of waste by 2030.

Waste is becoming one of the leading threats to the environment, increasing faster than any other pollutant.

Each year, 1.3 billion tons of wasted food is sent to landfills where rotting scraps send the potent heat-trapping greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere.

Improving waste and material management around the world globally could reduce global emissions by 20 percent, and are "essential" to delivering on the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accords and keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 Celsius, said the C40 Cities statement.

The announcement was released ahead of the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco in mid-September.

Signatories include Auckland, Copenhagen, Dubai, London, Milan, Montreal, New York City, Newburyport, Paris, Philadelphia, Portland, Rotterdam, San Jose, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Toronto, Vancouver Washington DC, and the regions of Navarra and Catalonia.

Specific steps include reducing food waste and facilitating safe food donation.

Participating areas may encourage separate collection of food scraps that could be used for compost, and supporting local policies like sustainable procurement and boosting awareness and use of recycling for construction and demolition materials.

Areas may also support reductions or bans on single-use and non-recyclable plastics.

The signatories pledged to publicly report their progress every two years.

"Dramatically reducing waste will help curb carbon emissions while helping us build a fairer, cleaner and more livable city for all New Yorkers," said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

"We're proud to stand alongside other leading cities worldwide in taking ambitious steps to cut down on waste."

Hongkongers pooh-pooh waste treatment plant, despite free spa

Yahoo – AFP, May 26, 2016

The three mineral-infused pools in the glass-walled spa, each with a different
temperature, are powered by the heat from the burning sludge (AFP Photo/
Isaac Lawrence)

Hong Kong (AFP) - It is billed as a groundbreaking way to deal with Hong Kong's human waste, and even includes an onsite spa free to residents, but a new eco-friendly sludge treatment plant has not washed with some locals.

The sustainable T-Park development blends into coastal hills near the town of Tuen Mun in the north of Hong Kong, a sleek low-rise building with a roof shaped like a wave.

Each day, the HK$5 billion ($644 million) plant treats 1,200 tonnes of sludge from the city's wastewater treatment plants to avoid it being dumped in Hong Kong's overflowing landfills.

"We can live together in a dense city 

without making the planet dirty," said 

Antoine Frerot, chairman of Veolia 

(AFP Photo/Isaac Lawrence)

The plant desalinates its own seawater and powers itself by the energy created from burning organic waste in what is the world's largest sludge incinerator.

Built by French management giant Veolia, city officials say it is "one of the most technologically advanced facilities" of its kind and will not emit pollutants.

But locals who already complain about smells emanating from a nearby landfill have protested against bringing yet more waste into the area.

And the building of a free onsite spa has been dismissed by some as a rubbish idea.

The three mineral-infused pools in the glass-walled spa, each with a different temperature, are powered by the heat from the burning sludge.

Seawater used for the pools is first desalinated at the plant and visitors can look out over ocean views as they soak.

They can also have a tour of the plant as part of their trip.

"Pure water is a symbol of purity," Antoine Frerot, chairman of Veolia, told AFP during a tour of the plant by French minister for foreign trade Matthias Fekl Wednesday.

"We can live together in a dense city without making the planet dirty."

However, Cheng Wai-kwan, 49, who lives in a village close to the plant said the spa was less than tempting.

"If I tell you I have a spa near home which is powered by burning rubbish, I don't think anyone would come," he told AFP.

He was among 40 villagers who protested at the site during the plant's official opening ceremony last week.

T-Park, the new sludge treatment facility in Tuen Mun in Hong Kong (AFP

 Photo/Isaac Lawrence)

The spa is due to open to the public next month.

Cheng said hundreds of villagers living nearby were fed up with the smell of the nearby landfill, and he worried it would get worse.

"Basically, you will have tonnes of shit brought to our district every single day. However beautifully it is being packaged, I don't think it is benefiting us," Cheng added.

A Tuen Mun district councillor said locals had never agreed to have the plant being built in their backyard.

"The government is using the spa as a compensation but I don't think it's enough," said Ho Hang-mui.

"Residents already have to shut their windows (because of the landfill). Even if the spa is free I don't think people will be able to enjoy it," she added.

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Transforming waste into energy at Suwung Garbage dump

Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

The foul smell of piling garbage at the largest landfill in Bali, the Suwung landfill, has been a source of disgust for the Balinese.

Thanks to technology, however, people on the island-province can now look forward to making use of their waste.

Home to household waste from four areas of Bali - Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan - the landfill receives as much as 800 tons of waste per day.

As two third of the waste is organic, it releases methane gas -- the source of the "foul smell" and is one of the greenhouse gasses that contributes to global warming - to the atmosphere.

The Bali administration, working with PT Navigat Organic Energy Indonesia (NOEI), set up an integrated waste management system at Suwung by building its first biogas plant.

The plant would capture methane gasses and turn it into energy in the form of electricity. The plant will also help rehabilitate the landfill site.

"By August 2008 the facility would be able to produce two megawatts for public use," PT NOEI spokesperson Bernt Bakken said Sunday.

The facility was launched by the Bali Governor Made Dewa Beratha on Dec. 13, sporting the momentum of the United Nations Climate Change Conference that ended on Dec. 15.

It is the first project in Bali carried out under the United Nation's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) -- a carbon trade scheme that enables a group of developed countries and countries in transition, which are binding for emission cuts to earn emission reduction credits by promoting sustainable development in developing countries.

Indonesia has 11 projects under the carbon trade scheme registered at the CDM executive board so far, with only two of them approved by the board.

The biogas plant project would reduce around 123,423 tons per year of the amount of methane gasses released to the atmosphere, cutting the greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming.

Bakken said from 2010, the facility would produce 10 Megawatts of electricity.

State Electricity Company (PLN) has signed an agreement to buy power from the biogas plant.

PT NOEI uses a Jenbacher machine, distributed by GE Energy. GE Energy country executive Gatot Prawiro said waste-to-energy conversion was a good solution to provide energy in areas that has no access to the national power grid.

Bali is still dependent on Java for power supply, with 130 Megawatts of the 439 Megawatts needed to power Bali comes from the Paiton Power Plant in East Java.

New e-waste recycling laws begin

A much-delayed law that makes British producers and importers of electronic goods responsible for the recycling of their products has come into force.

BBC News

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive requires 4kg of "e-waste" to be recycled per person.

Manufacturers have to fund recycling schemes, while retailers must offer take-back services to customers.

The legislation was supposed to be operational by August 2005 but was delayed by "major difficulties".

"E-waste", which includes PCs, games consoles, microwaves and washing machines, is the fastest-growing form of rubbish in the European Union.

The UK produces an estimated 1.2m tonnes of e-waste each year, most of which has been ending up in landfill sites.

Read More ....

Greenbottle Creates Eco-Friendly Milk Jug

Filed on May 31, 2007 at 4:29 AM PST

By Kelli Best-Oliver, Green Options

Is there a more eco-friendly way to package milk besides plastic jugs and gable-top cartons? A UK company seems to think so. Greenbottle is a new two-part milk packaging system that was recently test-piloted in Asda supermarkets during a one-week trial. The bottles quickly sold out.

Designed by Martin Myerscough from Framlingham, Suffolk, the bottle consists of a pulped recycled cardboard outer (think cardboard egg cartons) and a corn-based bioplastic bag liner. After the milk is gone, the bioplastic bag can be removed and composted, and the outer shell can be recycled or composted.

The UK produces over 3 million metric tons of plastic waste each year, of which only 7% is recycled. The vast majority of plastic ends up in landfills.

During the test run, the milk in Greenbottle's jugs cost the same as milk in traditional containers, although the packaging cost the company 30% more to produce, although they expect that margin to drop significantly as the packaging's distribution expands.

Bekasi to trade CO2 reductions

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Bekasi municipality is hoping to generate funds through the trade of carbon by offering the ten-hectare Sumur Batu sanitary landfill site in Bantar Gebang to investors.

The head of the city's environmental agency, Dudi Setiabudi, said the Sumur Batu landfill currently handles 1,600 cubic meters of solid waste per day and produces 66,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually.

"We are now in the process of tendering the project to investors who are interested in developing it as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project," Dudi said.

Dudi visited the office of the Designated National Authority (DNA) on Wednesday to discuss the planned project, which will destroy methane gas generated at the landfill.

The DNA is a government body tasked with approving local DNA projects before they are submitted to the United Nation's Executive Board which has the final say on whether or not projects are viable.

Dudi said that several foreign companies from countries including Korea, Japan and France had expressed interest in the project.

"The initial investment needed to secure the required technology to process methane gas is over Rp 9 billion (approximately US$1 million) so we have to determine the winner through a tendering process," he said.

He said that based on a feasibility study conducted by the World Bank, the project could be extended for up to 21 years.

Dudi said that his administration had prepared all documents required to register the project with the DNA.

"We have discussed the plans with people living in close proximity to the planned project. They welcome the CDM idea because the project will mean landfill is managed better," he said.

The Bekasi administration is expected to register the project with the DNA in June.

The Sumur Batu landfill site, which is located near the 108-hectare Bantar Gebang landfill belonging to the Jakarta administration, is currently operated by the Bekasi Sanitation Agency.

However, Dudi said that residents living near the facility often complain about the poor waste management system which causes air and water pollution.

"We hope private investors can develop a waste management system that may reduce air and water pollution. The CDM project will benefit local people and provide extra income to the administration," he said.

The CDM is in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol, which encourages developing nations, including Indonesia, to develop projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Developers of projects receive a Certificate of Emission Reduction from the United Nations Executive Board, which specifies the amount of carbon that can be traded to rich nations.

A ton of CO2 reduction is currently valued at between US$5 and $10.

However, many predict that a ton of CO2 reduction may eventually reach up to $30.

UK waste reduction guide designed to help industry

By Ahmed ElAmin, Food Productiondaily

18/05/2007 - A new UK guide designed to help retailers and processors cut down on packaging waste serves as an example for other EU companies.

The guide, published this week by the of Waste & Resources Action Program (Wrap), is primarily focused on retailers, but manufacturers such as Unilever, Heinz and Northern Foods have also officially signed up to a commitment to cut down on packaging waste going to landfill.

A number of signatories to the agreement have established reduction targets of up to 25 per cent.

Government's strategy has been to focus on retailers so they can push their suppliers to cut down on packaging waste, either by reducing the amount they use for their products, or by switching to more recyclable, reusable and biodegradable materials.

Wrap is selling the packaging waste reduction program by citing reduced material and distribution costs through light-weighting.

Read More ....

The Wrap guide is available at http://www.wrap.org.uk/retail/

Green group urges recyclable packs

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Environmental group have called on the government to issue a policy to push consumer goods producers to use recyclable packaging to help deal with Jakarta's long-standing waste problem.

The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) said such a move would be crucial because about 80 percent of the waste sent to the Bantar Gebang dump site in Bekasi, West Java, came from Jakarta households.

"Jakarta will never be able to resolve its waste problem unless producers are told to use eco-friendly wrappers for their products," said Slamet Daroyni, the executive director of Walhi's Jakarta chapter.

"And it's also not fair to merely blame households for creating the waste problems. With more eco-friendly product packaging, household waste would have less of an impact on the environment," Slamet said.

Walhi's statement has come as a response to the ongoing deliberation by a House of Representatives special committee on a new bill on waste management.

The first-ever bill -- which is scheduled to be passed this year -- would give the highest authority for handling waste to the provincial administration. Walhi has argued such a move would be a setback because centralized authority was more a more effective way of managing waste.

"Business permits for consumer product manufacturers operating in the country are granted by the central government and so (the central government) plays a very important role in waste management. Coordination must, as a result, be under the vice president or at least a minister," he said.

Slamet said that in Malaysia waste problems were overseen by the deputy prime minister with the involvement of 11 government departments.

Slamet said the government also had to regulate major businesses such as shopping malls, apartments and hotels in order to set up the trash management facilities needed to deal with the garbage.

"The facilities would be used to sort garbage for composting so that there would be no need to send everything to Bantar Gebang dump site," he said.

Household waste management is a problem in cities across the country, and many believe it is a key cause of contamination in Jakarta's water supply.

A number of environmental group have tried to educate people on separating recyclable material from their garbage before sending it to the dump. But such efforts have failed to take hold.

The draft of the new waste management law stipulates that organic garbage should be sorted from non-organic garbage at its source.

It also states that residents are obliged to limit, reduce and manage their waste and prohibits dumping in certain areas.

Importing waste into Indonesia now carries a fine of Rp 1 billion or a three-year jail term.

Jakarta currently dumps 6,000 tons of mostly household garbage in landfill in Bekasi, West Java, each day. The administration pays Bekasi a management fee of US$5.60 per ton of garbage to use the dump.

The administration says its uses advanced technology in each municipality to manage up to 4,000 tons of the garbage. The city administration earlier introduced a high-tech waste management facility in Bojong, Bogor, but nearby residents opposed to the site and forced its closure.