Here are a few thoughts and comments on environmental protection from different perspectives. We need to accept the seemingly obvious fact that a toxic environment can make people sick and that no amount of medical intervention can protect us. The health care community must become a powerful political lobby for environmental policy and legislation. – Andrew...

The EU-funded project EUCERTPLAST (‘European certification of plastics recyclers’) has developed a common certification scheme for post-consumer plastics recycling in Europe. Such a scheme helps recyclers and waste collectors, who would be able to guarantee that the plastic waste they collect is actually being recycled (rather than traded) and that this is done in a sustainable manner....

Recent newspaper headlines reported: Water charges are set to go up every year for families because Irish Water (IW) will be allowed to increase the rate. Households who stop wasting water and reduce their consumption could still end up with higher bills. Irish Water will be able to seek an annual hike in water charges...

A new data viewer from the European Environment Agency (EEA) allows users to access data on urban wastewater and treatment plants. The new data viewer, part of the Water Information System for Europe (WISE) has been developed to facilitate the use and display of data already reported under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD). The new UWWTD data viewer...

REACH is widely regarded as expensive by Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). The overall (direct) cost estimates of REACH specified in the 29 October 2003 Impact Assessment turned out to be an underestimate by nearly one half. By 2012 the difference added up to around EUR 1 billion; by 2018 this might have gone...

Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous? – Bill Watterson Dealing with complexity is an inefficient and unnecessary waste of time, attention and mental energy.  There is never any justification for things being complex when they could be simple. – Edward de Bono Waste is worse than loss.  The time is coming when every person who...

Well, Art is Art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water and east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like apple sauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know. – Groucho Marx. Have a good weekend...

Limerick County Council have seen off competition from 33 other Local Authority areas to be named winner of the ‘Strategic Water Initiative of the Year’ award for the Kilmallock Water Supply. Limerick County Council earlier this year become the first Irish recipient of a prestigious internationally-recognised quality standard for the delivery of drinking water when...

There are more than 65,000 wastewater treatment plants in Europe, each providing an essential service to local populations. By simply installing innovative new equipment, plants could cut energy use by up to 25% while increasing nutrient removal by up to 20%. Operationally, a plant is designed to address the average waste water flow and composition...

Have you ever thought about the “life cycle” of plastics packaging? Current best practice thinking is that packaging should be designed to Satisfy technical, consumer and customer needs Minimises environmental impact. ie. – Use the minimum amount of resources to serve its core purpose and maximise the opportunity for recycling. A key UK and European...