bemoreeco

In the December 1900 issue of Ladies Home Journal, John Elfreth Watkins put together a collection of predictions for the future of the United States and the world by the end of the 20th century. In “What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years”, Watkins surveyed a group of “the wisest and most careful men in our greatest institutions of science and learning” about “will have been wrought in his own field of investigation before the dawn of 2001.

Some of the predictions are uncannily accurate, yet others are more than a little wide of the mark. We’ve cherry-picked 14 enviro-related predictions and coupled them with a brief analysis of what actually happened. Enjoy.     

1. Prediction: “Automobiles will be cheaper than horses are today. Farmers will own automobile hay-wagons, automobile truck-wagons, plows, harrows and hay-rakes. A one-pound motor in one of these vehicles will do the work of a pair of horses or more. Children will ride in automobile sleighs in winter. Automobiles will have been substituted for every horse vehicle now known. There will be, as already exist today, automobile hearses, automobile police patrols, automobile ambulances, automobile street sweepers. The horse in harness will be as scarce, if, indeed, not even scarcer, then as the yoked ox is today.”

What happened: Partially true. Generally speaking, horses cost less than new cars, excepting show and race horses. However, the gist of the prediction rings true. Cars, trucks, and buses have all-but replaced the horse in American society as a means of transportation and performing work.

2. Prediction: “There Will Be No Street Cars in Our Large Cities. All hurry traffic will be below or high above ground when brought within city limits. In most cities it will be confined to broad subways or tunnels, well lighted and well ventilated, or to high trestles with “moving-sidewalk” stairways leading to the top. These underground or overhead streets will teem with capacious automobile passenger coaches and freight with cushioned wheels. Subways or trestles will be reserved for express trains. Cities, therefore, will be free from all noises.”

What happened: Most cities in the U.S. dismantled their street car networks or converted the tracks to light rail in the middle of the 20th century. New Orleans and Toronto still run their streetcars networks along essentially the same principle and layout as they did 100 years ago, while cities like Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have rebuilt their streetcars into light rail networks.

3. Prediction: “Trains will run two miles a minute, normally; express trains one hundred and fifty miles an hour. To go from New York to San Francisco will take a day and a night by fast express. There will be cigar-shaped electric locomotives hauling long trains of cars. Cars will, like houses, be artificially cooled. Along the railroads there will be no smoke, no cinders, because coal will neither be carried nor burned. There will be no stops for water. Passengers will travel through hot or dusty country regions with windows down.”

What happened: The top operating speed on France’s renowned high-speed TGV is 186 miles per hour. Which is actually closer to three miles a minute. Under special test conditions a TGV trainset has reached 320 mph. High-speed rail systems have proliferated in Europe and parts of Asia, but the U.S. has lagged. The only high speed train in the U.S., The Acela Express, which runs from Boston to Washington D.C. and points between runs at speeds up to 150 mph. Unfortunately, there is no “fast express” from New York To San francisco. In stead of taking “a day and a night” as suggested by Watkins, the trip would take you somewhere between 70 and 80 hours. Assuming a likely layover in D.C. or Chicago, we’re talking closer to three and half days. But they are cooled and they don’t run on coal. The trains do not need to stop for water, but they will often need to stop and give priority to a passing freight train one of the big four railroads who still own the vast majority of the tracks in the U.S.

4. Prediction: “There will be air-ships, but they will not successfully compete with surface cars and water vessels for passenger or freight traffic. They will be maintained as deadly war-vessels by all military nations. Some will transport men and goods. Others will be used by scientists making observations at great heights above the earth.”

What happened: Actually, “Air-ships” compete quite well with surface cars and water vessels for passenger and freight traffic. High-volume passenger air travel is often only competitive because of generous government subsidies, as airlines in the U.S. and elsewhere are well-known for going bankrupt because of the tenuousness of the industry. Air travel has still made very little mark on the short and medium length trips that automobiles and rail have dominated in. Air-ships, however, are indeed maintained as deadly war-vessels by all military nations. And as the events of September 11, 2001 indicate, air-ships are also used as deadly war-vessels by non-military actors, too.

5. Prediction: “No Mosquitoes nor Flies. Insect screens will be unnecessary. Mosquitoes, house-flies and roaches will have been practically exterminated. Boards of health will have destroyed all mosquito haunts and breeding-grounds, drained all stagnant pools, filled in all swamp-lands, and chemically treated all still-water streams. The extermination of the horse and its stable will reduce the house-fly.”

What happened: Umm, no. An estimated 1.5 million people die every year from Malaria, a disease transmitted to humans exclusively by mosquitoes.

6. Prediction: “Black, Blue and Green Roses. Roses will be as large as cabbage heads. Violets will grow to the size of orchids. A pansy will be as large in diameter as a sunflower. A century ago the pansy measured but half an inch across its face. There will be black, blue and green roses. It will be possible to grow any flower in any color and to transfer the perfume of a scented flower to another which is odorless. Then may the pansy be given the perfume of the violet.”

What happened: The hybridization of flowers can produce virtually any flower in any color. As Michael Pollan so eloquently wrote in Second Nature, “Not that the modern rose lacks for novelty—indeed, novelty is a big part of their problem. Twentieth-century capitalism discovered the rose and decided what it needed after several millennia of successful cultivation was a full-tilt program of R&D, innovation, market research, positioning, and advertising. As gardeners are fond of pointing out, the modern rose industry appears to have modeled itself after Detroit. Each year it introduces a handful of ‘exciting’ new models, many of them in improbable neon and metallic shades better suited to a four-door than a flower…”

7. Prediction: “No Foods will be Exposed. Storekeepers who expose food to air breathed out by patrons or to the atmosphere of the busy streets will be arrested with those who sell stale or adulterated produce. Liquid-air refrigerators will keep great quantities of food fresh for long intervals.”

What happened: Refrigeration along all points of the food distribution chain is now ubiquitous in the U.S.  Ironically, however, many foods that are refrigerated are still exposed to open air as they are displayed in your grocer’s food-case. While not an unhealthy practice, per se, because the foods are largely over-wrapped in layers of virtually impenetrable plastic, saying it is energy inefficient would be an understatement.

8. Prediction: “Coal will not be used for heating or cooking. It will be scarce, but not entirely exhausted. The earth’s hard coal will last until the year 2050 or 2100; its soft-coal mines until 2200 or 2300. Meanwhile both kinds of coal will have become more and more expensive. Man will have found electricity manufactured by waterpower to be much cheaper. Every river or creek with any suitable fall will be equipped with water-motors, turning dynamos, making electricity. Along the seacoast will be numerous reservoirs continually filled by waves and tides washing in. Out of these the water will be constantly falling over revolving wheels. All of our restless waters, fresh and salt, will thus be harnessed to do the work which Niagara is doing today: making electricity for heat, light and fuel.”

What happened: Coal is (by and large) not directly used for heating and cooking any more in the U.S. Indirectly, however, coal is still used for heating and cooking in about half of the nation’s homes via the electric grid. As part of the total energy mix, coal provides about 22% of our energy needs, but that includes transportation fuels as well. In terms of the U.S. electricity mix, coal provides about half of the country’s capacity, though that number reaches as high as three quarters in some areas.

9. Prediction: “Vegetables Grown by Electricity. Winter will be turned into summer and night into day by the farmer. In cold weather he will place heat-conducting electric wires under the soil of his garden and thus warm his growing plants. He will also grow large gardens under glass. At night his vegetables will be bathed in powerful electric light, serving, like sunlight, to hasten their growth. Electric currents applied to the soil will make valuable plants grow larger and faster, and will kill troublesome weeds. Rays of colored light will hasten the growth of many plants. Electricity applied to garden seeds will make them sprout and develop unusually early.”

What happened: Growing plants indoors under electric lights has become commonplace in the United States and elsewhere. But exactly what is being grown under lights may not have been what Watkins had in mind.

10. Prediction: “Strawberries as large as apples will be eaten by our great great grandchildren for their Christmas dinners a hundred years hence. Raspberries and blackberries will be as large. One will suffice for the fruit course of each person. Strawberries and cranberries will be grown upon tall bushes. Cranberries, gooseberries and currants will be as large as oranges. One cantaloupe will supply an entire family. Melons, cherries, grapes, plums, apples, pears, peaches and all berries will be seedless. Figs will be cultivated over the entire United States.”

What happened: There is no question that fruits and vegetables are bigger than they used to be. One trip into the modern supermarket one will see not only huge strawberries, but also enormous apples, giant bananas, and so on. But what we have gained in size, we have lost in taste, as the larger fruits and vegetables are bred for commercial success and to survive long journeys from farm to table.

11. Prediction: “There will be no wild animals except in menageries. Rats and mice will have been exterminated. The horse will have become practically extinct. A few of high breed will be kept by the rich for racing, hunting and exercise. The automobile will have driven out the horse. Cattle and sheep will have no horns. They will be unable to run faster than the fattened hog of today. A century ago the wild hog could outrun a horse. Food animals will be bred to expend practically all of their life energy in producing meat, milk, wool and other by-products. Horns, bones, muscles and lungs will have been neglected.”

What happened: This prediction starts off weak and finishes with a flurry. There are plenty of rats and mice; horses are not nearly extinct, but they are used mostly for recreational purposes, as Watkins suggested.

12. Prediction: “To England in Two Days. Fast electric ships, crossing the ocean at more than a mile a minute, will go from New York to Liverpool in two days. The bodies of these ships will be built above the waves. They will be supported upon runners, somewhat like those of the sleigh. These runners will be very buoyant. Upon their under sides will be apertures expelling jets of air. In this way a film of air will be kept between them and the water’s surface. This film, together with the small surface of the runners, will reduce friction against the waves to the smallest possible degree. Propellers turned by electricity will screw themselves through both the water beneath and the air above. Ships with cabins artificially cooled will be entirely fireproof. In storm they will dive below the water and there await fair weather.”

What happened: Design-wise, Watkins was pretty spot-on with this one. But the ocean-going vessels he wrote of are used more often for short-run ferry trips (i.e London-Amsterdam).

13. Prediction: “There will probably be from 350,000,000 to 500,000,000 people in America and its possessions by the lapse of another century. Nicaragua will ask for admission to our Union after the completion of the great canal. Mexico will be next. Europe, seeking more territory to the south of us, will cause many of the South and Central American republics to be voted into the Union by their own people.”

What happened: As I write, the Census Bureau reports the U.S. population to be 305,740,570. The number falls short of what Watkins predicted, but not by much. Watkins’ prediction would have been closer if: A) The rate of population growth not slowed substantially, and; B) Had we not been involved in several long wars/conflicts/occupations/etc., taking the lives of close to a million Americans.

14. Prediction: Hot and Cold Air from Spigots. Hot or cold air will be turned on from spigots to regulate the temperature of a house as we now turn on hot or cold water from spigots to regulate the temperature of the bath. Central plants will supply this cool air and heat to city houses in the same way as now our gas or electricity is furnished. Rising early to build the furnace fire will be a task of the olden times. Homes will have no chimneys, because no smoke will be created within their walls.

What happened: Yes and no. We usually only have one ’spigot’ that delivers both hot and cold air. Central heating and cooling is something that has not caught on in the U.S. as it has elsewhere. Iceland, for example, has an excellent geothermal network that meets the heating and hot water requirements for around 87% of the nations’ housing.

All images except © Jan Cerovsky (coal-fired power plant) are via flickr under a Creative Commons License; wjarretc (high-speed train); Geral Yuvallo (mosquito); foilman (horse & carriage); redjar (grocery refrigeration); markus hoppe (black rose); fihliwe (gridlock); tigerzeye(fighter jets); wot nxt (greenhouse); jeredb (strawberry); phillipC (ferry).

The team at BeMoreEco have put together some New Year Resolutions.

<click here> to read them

Looking for some concrete marketing advice for the new year? Susan Gunelius of KeySplash Creative lists 10 Advertising Words To Avoid in 2009 and she makes some good sense. She points out that in these uncertain times straightforward, honest advertising messages are the way to go. Here they are:

1. Free

2. Guarantee

3. Really

4. Very

5. That

6. A Lot

7. Opportunity

8. To Be (or Not To Be, For That Matter)

9. Synergy

10. Drinkability

(If you’re really interested in the topic read 25-8 Marketing’s100 Overused Marketing Words and Phrases.)

Read Gunelius’ article to fully understand why each word needs to be shunned, but I for one am thrilled that going green didn’t make the list this year.

P.S. Organic, however, was not so lucky.

Source: Ecoprunuist

Mountains of recycled rubbish spring up across UK as market for waste collapses

Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of unwanted recycling is being stockpiled as contractors struggle to sell off used cans, newspapers and cardboard collected from households.

Experts estimate that up to 15 per cent of  all recycling is now being stored in warehouses and ports, waiting for a buyer. Some of the waste could be stuck there for a year. One in four councils has asked for more storage capacity to cope with the problem, which is likely to have worsened because of the volume of recycling generated over Christmas. Councils have been forced to recycle more by facing higher penalties for every tonne of waste that they dump in landfill to help the UK hit new European Union recycling targets.

But demand for recycling material has dropped sharply since October as sales of new cars, white goods and new homes - which provide a market for recycled material - have tailed off in the global downturn. The price of recycled cans has fallen from £200 a tonne to £20 a tonne, while paper and card has also dropped from £60 a tonne to just £10 a tonne. Prices have now fallen so far that the cost of making new plastic is cheaper than reusing the recycled material. The result has been a big increase in stockpiles of recycled rubbish, which contractors are battling to clear.

The Environment Agency said one way to ease the situation was for people to give more of their waste to charity, rather trying to recycle it. The news comes after research by The Daily Telegraph found that three in four councils diverted nearly 200,000 tonnes of recycled waste to landfill last year. Greencycle, a firm which collects waste for councils in the north east of England, said it had been forced to stockpile 2,000 tonnes of paper, card and cans.

Neil Rippon, the company’s managing director, said: “The market is the worst that anybody has ever known. People who I know who have been in the business for 30 years have never known anything like it.”

Mr Rippon estimated as much as 15 per cent of all recycling could be stockpiled temporarily. Last year 800,000 tonnes of recycling was collected from households in England and Wales every month. Closed Loop, one of the UK’s biggest recycling firms, said it was planning to increase its stocks of unwanted bottles by 5,000 tonnes by leasing four acres of next to its factory in Dagenham.

Chris Dow, the chief executive, said: “When the recycling has a problem, it is up to people like me to step up to the plate.”

Dave Davis, the owner of Oswestry Waste Paper in Shropshire, said the market was so bad that processors were being forced to charge councils and shopping centres money to collect waste paper and card.

He said “I have never seen the market so volatile, it has just fallen over the edge. We just keep our fingers crossed that the market will change.”

Experts said stockpiling was likely to get worse over the next nine weeks. Steve Eminton, of Let’s Recycle.com, said: “Everything is now being stockpiled. I think it is probably going to get worse in January and February.”

Official figures show the number of registered sites for storing recycled waste increased by two per cent to 859 in the past 12 months. The Local Government Association, which represents 400 councils in England and Wales, said 27 per cent of councils had increased their temporary storage capacity for recycled waste. Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA’s environment board, said some of the stockpiled waste might not be cleared for a year: “I have spoken to a number of people who have decided to hold on [to the waste] because prices seems to be improving.

“The recycling market is very immature; no one foresaw that in terms of a recession, it can be extremely volatile.”

Eric Pickles MP, the shadow Local Government secretary, said: “Councils are being forced either to stockpile rubbish in dumps across the country, or else be hit by swingeing fines and taxes imposed from Whitehall.”

The Environment Agency has now issued guidance to recycling firm to ensure that they store recycling safely and legally. The agency said householders could help to tackle the problem by giving more recycled goods, such as books, old television sets and video games consoles, to second hand shops.

A spokesman said: “Recycling is vitally important, but an even better way of diverting waste from landfill is to reuse goods by giving them to charity. ”We have tough but important targets to divert waste from landfill; and waste operators, businesses and local authorities all have an important role to play to maintain recycling throughout this market downturn.”

The agency will today [tues] unveil a new initiative with leading charity Oxfam which is aimed at encouraging more people to recycle through high street charity shops.

More than one million tonnes of clothes and other textiles are sent to landfill every year, the agency said. Campaigners which want to force councils to continue to offer weekly waste collections said that there were now question-marks over whether kerbside recycling was economically viable. Doretta Cocks, from the Campaign for Weekly Waste Collection, said: “We are all being urged to recycle as much as we can even though prices have fallen to such a low level.”

Source: The Daily Telegraph

The team at BBCGreen have carried out some investigation on the myths surrounding Low Energy Lights. Over the last 12 months I have been replacing light bulbs around the house with energy efficient ones. Low energy bulbs save you cash, carbon and inconvenience – so why aren’t we all using them?

What investment opportunity offers typical returns of up to 6000 per cent, an average minimum pay-in of just £3 and, as a bonus, has a positive impact on the planet? The answer: low-energy light bulbs.   

A single low-energy bulb costing £1 can save you up to £60 in energy costs over its lifetime and avoid hundreds of kilograms of CO2 emissions.   

So why isn’t everyone using them? One reason is that many people simply aren’t aware of the benefits. Another is that low-energy light bulbs, also known as eco bulbs or compact fluorescent bulbs, still have a reputation for poor quality.   

Over the next four weeks we will be providing you some of the most common myths about green lighting. So here are the first three.

1. Low-energy bulbs produce unpleasant light

Five or so years ago, many low-energy bulbs did produce rather weak, cold and unnatural-looking light. But times have changed and modern eco bulbs produce bright, yellow light that is just as pleasant – if very slightly different in character – as regular lighting.   

American magazine Popular Mechanics put such claims to the test, asking people to rate the light from eight different bulbs. The result? The seven eco bulbs all scored better than the one regular bulb.

2. Eco bulbs flicker and take ages to turn on

Again, this is mainly a thing of the past. Most modern low-energy bulbs turn on within a second, with no flickering. But it’s true that they can take a few seconds to reach their maximum light levels, especially in a cold room.

3. Low-energy light bulbs are expensive

Prices have plummeted in recent years and, thanks to subsidy schemes, high quality bulbs are available in the UK for as little as £1 each. The more obscure eco bulbs are pricier, but still excellent value if you factor in how long they last and the comparative cost of using regular bulbs.

Come back soon for the rest

FAT were commissioned in 2008 by Marchday Group Plc to masterplan the redevelopment of Lingfield Point, an exisiting 42 hectare site in Darlington, County Durham.

The 100% net carbon neutral project aims to regenerate an existing industrial estate into an eco-friendly residential mixed use scheme.

Community centres, shops, restaurants and healthcare facilities surrounded by environmentally friendly housing and places of work are enhanced by an eco-corridor to encourage wildlife alongside fitness trails and sports/cultural facilities.

The masterplan creates a series of varied experiences throughout the site, all of which retain traces of the industrial character of the location.

Source: FAT

Europe’s carmakers want more money, in part to cope with a brand new EU law.

The day after the European Parliament voted for new rules to govern the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) cars can emit, the car manufacturers say they need a loan of 40bn euros (£38bn).

The boss of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), Ivan Hodac, says: “It will cost us an enormous amount of money, it is absolutely sure the cars will become more expensive, so the consumer will have to pay part of the bill and part of the bill will have to come from the companies.

“We have asked for a soft loan from the European Investment Bank because at this moment the industry is doing very badly and it will be very, very difficult to get the money to invest in the fuel-efficient technologies to meet the target.”

As Mark Mardell from the BBC reported a while ago, after intensive negotiation between ministers and MEPs a set of rules has been agreed, and the parliament formally voted on them on Wednesday. Campaigners like Jos Dings from Transport and Environment feel they’ve been watered down. He told the BBC “carmakers in each European country have been lobbying very hard so their governments get loopholes that suited them best. The Germans wanted exemptions for big cars, the Italians wanted exemptions for Fiat, the Brits for Aston Martin and Jaguar and if you count all the loopholes together it’s a Swiss cheese, with lots of air and no cheese.”

As Mark Mardel has covered this story in some depth he has wondered why car manufacturers don’t see a huge commercial advantage in being ahead of the game and producing the car of tomorrow today. The short answer appears to be that people don’t want to buy them.

A couple of weeks ago Mark drove a special prototype Peugeot 408 round the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It’s a hybrid diesel and electric and looks just like the ordinary model.

It’s a strange drive at first, just because there’s no noise. In fact he thought he couldn’t get the engine going at first, because he couldn’t hear anything. The idea is that below a certain speed - and you are always below 30km/h (19mph) in central Paris - the electric engine kicks in and the diesel cuts out. The electric battery is constantly recharged when you brake. It produces about 90g of CO2 per kilometre driven, so it’s well below the targets the EU is aiming for in seven years’ time.

So why not now, and why not in all cars? The Scientific Director of PSA Peugeot Citroen, Jean-Pierre Goedgebuer, was frank with me. “It’s still very costly, and so on the typical vehicle we are afraid there is no market. So first we aim at putting on the market premium or distinctive cars equipped with that technology.”

He wouldn’t tell Mark the exact extra cost, but when Mark’s guess went up from £1,000 to £4,000 he suggested that mark was around the right area. For smaller cars the cost woud be much less, but the answer to the question “why not put this technology in an ordinary family car?” was obvious. “We’re afraid, we’re still afraid it’s too expensive.”

In the end Mark suspects it will be oil prices and scarcity, not new laws or guilty feelings about the environment, that will force us to adopt different technology. 

Household rubbish put out for recycling is being dumped in landfill sites or sent to incinerators by three out of four councils, a Daily Telegraph investigation has discovered.

Up to 200,000 tonnes of recyclable waste was dumped last year with some councils failing to recycle over 10 per cent of glass, paper, plastic and other materials left out by conscientious homeowners.  The amount dumped this year is expected to rise sharply as councils struggle to sell recyclable waste during the economic downturn. The disclosure will anger millions of British families, many of whom are being forced to sort their waste into five different waste bins - including new “food slop” containers - to allow it to be recycled.

Over the Christmas period families will generate more recycling waste from wrapping paper, bottles and cardboard packaging than at any other time of year. But with prices for recycled material falling, increasing volumes will end up dumped or destroyed. Under the Labour Government, councils have adopted increasingly controversial tactics to meet waste disposal guidelines, with half scrapping weekly bin collections to force people to recycle more. The Government is also pressing ahead with trials for new bin taxes in the Spring which will see fines levied on households which throw out too much rubbish.

Most councils collect recycling from the kerbside and then pay for contractors to take it off their hands. The contractors are responsible for processing the materials. While the economy was booming there was high demand for recycled products. However, in recent months the global downturn has hurt prices for scrap metal and recycled plastic and other materials, making dumping waste a more attractive option.

Environmental experts last night said that the actions of the councils may undermine attempts to encourage households to recycle more waste. Neil Rippon, managing director of Greencycle, a recycling contractor, said: “If residents know their recycling is going to landfill what incentive is there for residents to recycle it?”

Eric Pickles, the Conservatives’ Local Government Secretary, said: “This once again shatters the Government’s green credentials.

“Labour’s idea of recycling is dumping huge mountains of rubbish on landfill sites and in warehouses fuelling the 80 million strong rat population. The sad reality is that families who want to go green can’t under Labour.

“Hardworking households feeling the pinch are being clobbered with bin fines, bin cuts and bin taxes.”

The Daily Telegraph surveyed all 400 councils across England and Wales. Of the 209 which replied, more than 75 per cent admitted to sending at least some of their recyclable waste to landfill sites or incinerators.

With landfill tax standing at £32 per tonne councils are potentially spending an extra £6.4million sending recycling to be dumped. Landfill tax will rise to £40 per tonne next year, sending the potential cost spiralling to £8million. The councils responding to the survey admitted dumping a total of 100,503 tonnes of recyclable waste in landfill or sending it to incinerators in the 2007/08 financial year.

If the figure is extrapolated to all councils in England, it suggests that nearly 200,000 tonnes of recycling is being dumped every year. In the survey, the worst offenders were Medway and Peterborough councils which sent 11 per cent of their total recyclable waste - including materials deposited at bottlebanks and in composting facilities - to landfill sites and incinerators.

Pembrokeshire Council said 19 per cent of all kerbside recycling would end up in landfill. Derbyshire County Council revealed up to 30 per cent of recyclable cans will end up not being recycled. Leeds City Council, whose local MP is environment secretary Hilary Benn, said it dumped four per cent of waste earmarked for recycling every year.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, added: “People are constantly lectured on recycling and threatened with fines if they don’t comply, so it’s outrageous that councils are just throwing the stuff away.”

The economic downturn has led to a sharp fall in the price of raw materials and therefore the demand for recyclable material has also dropped dramatically. Many councils are left with large amounts of waste that they are unable to sell for recycling. Some councils have also admitted sending waste for recycling to the Far East to be processed, producing a carbon footprint that raises major question marks about the environmental benefits of the process.

Paul Levett, managing director for Veolia Environmental Services which handles recycling for 100 local authorities, said: “Manufacturing and reprocessing sectors in the UK are not large enough to create significant demand for the volume of materials that is now being recycled.”

A survey by the Local Government Association found that five per cent of local authorities are having to store recyclable materials for longer than usual. At Plymouth Council they are still stockpiling recyclable materials from 2006. An association spokesman said: “Councils strive to ensure that as much can be recycled as possible after families take the time to do their bit for the environment.

Some of the councils with the worst records admitted they could do better.

A spokesman for Havering Council, which dumped 10.4 per cent of its waste, said: “Only a tiny fraction of the 13 million tonnes of household waste put out for recycling does not end up being recycled.

“We feel that we could improve the contamination rate, which is why we are running a campaign next year to reduce it and improve participation in our kerbside service.”

Wayne Fitzgerald, the councillor in charge of recycling at Peterborough City Council which dumped 11 per cent, said: “I think 11 per cent is not a bad figure because only five per cent goes to landfill and the rest goes to incinerators and is used for fuel.”

A Medway council spokesman disputed the Government’s official figures which showed that 11 per cent of its waste is incinerated or dumped in landfill. He said: “The waste is mixed in the collection hall making it impossible to state which are any authority’s materials and hence the exact proportion of contaminated, and therefore non-recyclable waste sent to landfill that was collected in Medway.

“The recycling rate that Medway shares with its residents takes into account any rejections. Approximately 30 per cent of all waste collected by the council is recycled or sent to compost.”

Carmarthenshire County Council, which dumped 7.7 per cent of its waste, said: “We have identified areas where the quality of materials put into the blue bags needs improving.

“In the New Year waste services officers will be deployed to these areas to actively engage with residents to encourage improvement in quality.”

A spokesman for Bedfordshire County Council, which dumped 8.5 per cent of material sent for recycling, said: “No recycling is sent to landfill, only contaminated and non-recyclable waste is sent.

“From January 2009 we will be introducing facilities to recycle a greater number of plastics which will immediately reduce the percentage of waste sent to landfill.

The Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs said: “There is a strong incentive for local authorities and recycling facilities to minimise the amount of contaminated recycling due to the cost of extra material going to landfill as well as the loss of revenue from recycled materials.”

Source: The Daily Telegraph

How to Turn Your Parents Green, by James Russell and illustrated by Oivind Hovland, is a humorous book for kids ages 8-80 (you are never too old to turn your parents green). This book helps alleviate eco-anxiety by empowering children. “The premise for the book is that grown-ups (the Groans) are responsible for causing global warming, but it’s you (the kids) who will have to deal with the consequences.”

The tips in the book are what you would expect, such as eating organically, riding your bike, and turning off light bulbs; but the format is unique in suggesting how children can approach their parents. One suggestions is presenting your parents with a list of poisons in the household, such as cleaners, then giving them a month to switch to natural products. There’s even a section on how to turn your teachers green!

How do kids feel about this book? A 14-year old wrote:

As I can’t exactly watch my parents when they are in the bathroom, I have to take their word for it that they aren’t leaving the taps running.

My mum is the worst culprit for leaving the tap on when she cleans her teeth. The book says to fine anyone 25p if they leave the tap on while brushing their teeth. I think it came to £2, before she got it into her head that tap off good, tap on bad. So a miracle happened when she turned the tap off when she brushed her teeth. Well done, mum.

Anti-smoking campaigns have long recognized the power of children to influence their parents habits. Children can be a powerful force in making the world more green. The more books that are out there, the better, in my opinion. How to Turn Your Parents Green does a good job in presenting the information in a kid-friendly manner without downplaying the significance of our actions

By Jennifer Lance at Eco Childs Play