[News] from [guardian.co.uk]
[Environment > Pollution]
New EU regulations for battery disposal
Rules that require battery retailers to provide disposal facilities come into force this month to divert heavy metals from landfill
Alok Jha, green technology correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 4 January 2010 16.26 GMT Article history
New regulations come into force this month that require retailers selling batteries to provide collection and recycling facilities for their eventual disposal.
The rules, part of the EU's batteries directive, are meant to deal with the thousands of tonnes of harmful metals that pollute the environment when used batteries are burned or put into landfill.
According to the Environment Agency, which will be among the organisations to enforce the new rules, the directive will "affect any business that uses, produces, supplies, or disposes of batteries, as well as any business that manufactures or designs battery-powered products".
For consumers, everything from AAA cells to mobile phone batteries and button cells used in hearing aids and watches, must be separated from household rubbish and placed into designated recycling bins in shops or other recycling points. Though the details are yet to be worked out, among the schemes expected to become available to consumers are in-store recycling points, kerbside collection and post-back to manufacturers or vendors.
"The primary intention is to divert batteries away from landfill, to avoid metals such as cadmium and mercury in those batteries from getting into the environment," said Bob Mead, the Environment Agency's project manager. "For portable batteries, the current rate of collection and recycling are pretty low, the government estimates it at around 3%. The directive requires us to get that up to a minimum of 25% by 2012 and 45% by 2016."
Anyone selling more than a tonne of portable batteries a year will have to arrange for the collection, recycling and disposal of waste batteries in proportion to their market share. But Mead said this did not mean retailers would be burdened with layers of extra responsibility. "The retailers themselves are required to do nothing more than provide a point where one of these collection bins can be placed," he said. "They have no responsibilities themselves in treating or recycling the batteries they collect. They merely have to phone up one of the compliance schemes and say: 'I've got some batteries so come and take them away from me.'"
The directive was created to deal with the approximately 800,000 tonnes of automotive batteries, 190,000 tonnes of industrial batteries and 160,000 tonnes of consumer batteries that are placed on the EU market every year. The metals used range from lead and mercury to nickel, cadmium, zinc, lithium and manganese.
According to the European commission, mercury, lead and cadmium are the most problematic substances in the battery waste stream and batteries made with these metals are classified as hazardous waste. When these waste batteries are burned, they contribute to air pollution and, when they end up in landfill, the metals leach into the surrounding land. In additioon, thousands of tonnes of valuable metals, such as nickel, cobalt and silver, could be recovered if batteries did not go to landfills or incinerators.
[News > UK news > Weather]
More travel disruption as heavy snow moves south
Fears over gas and grit stocks with up to 25cm of snowfall expected in parts of UK today
Matthew Weaver, Martin Wainwright and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 5 January 2010 08.03 GMT Article history
A band of heavy snow moving south from Scotland and northern England is causing widespread travel problems and is likely to cause more disruption as the continuing cold snap prompts concerns over grit and gas supplies.
The National Grid has issued a rare warning to power suppliers to use less gas after a 30% rise on normal seasonal demand. It has urged power companies to switch to coal and order more gas supplies from Belgium and Norway.
Meanwhile councils stock piles of gritting salt for roads are running thin. Emergency deliveries of grit was made to Fife council in Scotland and Pemborkshire in Wales warned that gritting lorries were struggling to cope with the "extraordinary" conditions.
Forecasters are expecting heavy snow for most of the UK today, with up to 25cm (9.8 inches) predicted in some parts prompting the warning of a 60% chance of disruption in most areas.
Manchester airport closed this morning due to heavy snow, and there are problems on roads and railways.
Ten train services between London and Leeds on the East Coast Main Line were cancelled today. Several London to Glasgow services on the line were also stopping at Edinburgh, with a number of others affected.
Budget airline easyJet cancelled a number of flights on its European network, including two between Luton and Milan.
The Highways Agency said the A66 in Cumbria was closed both ways between the junctions with A1 and A685. The closure is expected to last for several hours.
Stephen Davenport, senior meteorologist at MeteoGroup, warned that the cold snap is set in. "So entrenched is this cold-weather pattern that it seems only a major upheaval in the atmosphere will bring a return to something milder.
"Should conditions continue in a similar vein then by March we might just be looking back at one of the coldest winters of the last 100 years."
He warned of "very snowy" conditions from tonight in the south.
"And the highly populated south is likely to see snow that will at times be widespread, persistent and severe enough to bring significant or even major difficulties to infrastructures, particularly transport."
"By Friday or even sooner there will be several centimetres of snow lying over wide areas, to depths of five to 10, or even 15cms. In a few ill-favoured areas the persistence and heaviness of the snow could bring accumulations well in excess of 20 centimetres."
Yesterday the AA reported its busiest ever day, with more than 25,000 breakdowns over the 24 hours.
The AA also warned that the roads were likely to be even busier today when worsening weather conditions combined with the return to school in many areas. Thousands of children are expected to be given more time off school today.
Grit stocks in England are holding up according to the Highways Agency, but Fife council in Scotland had to have several hundred tonnes of salt and grit delivered by the Scottish government after supplies ran low.
Bookmaker Paddy Power cut the odds on this being the coldest January on record from 5/1 to 7/4.
Police in North Yorkshire yesterday brought in mountain rescue teams to search for a man missing in the freezing temperatures. Ian Simpkin, 36, of Wath, near Ripon, North Yorks, left home on foot on Sunday at 10am, but has not been seen since. His parents raised the alarm on Sunday evening. Simpkin, who works at a local scrap yard and is a part-time gamekeeper, had a hospital appointment yesterday, but failed to show up.
Despite an intense search involving police, the Swaledale mountain rescue team, RAF mountain rescue and an RAF helicopter, he remains unaccounted for.
[Environment > Pollution]
New EU regulations for battery disposal
Rules that require battery retailers to provide disposal facilities come into force this month to divert heavy metals from landfill
Alok Jha, green technology correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 4 January 2010 16.26 GMT Article history
New regulations come into force this month that require retailers selling batteries to provide collection and recycling facilities for their eventual disposal.
The rules, part of the EU's batteries directive, are meant to deal with the thousands of tonnes of harmful metals that pollute the environment when used batteries are burned or put into landfill.
According to the Environment Agency, which will be among the organisations to enforce the new rules, the directive will "affect any business that uses, produces, supplies, or disposes of batteries, as well as any business that manufactures or designs battery-powered products".
For consumers, everything from AAA cells to mobile phone batteries and button cells used in hearing aids and watches, must be separated from household rubbish and placed into designated recycling bins in shops or other recycling points. Though the details are yet to be worked out, among the schemes expected to become available to consumers are in-store recycling points, kerbside collection and post-back to manufacturers or vendors.
"The primary intention is to divert batteries away from landfill, to avoid metals such as cadmium and mercury in those batteries from getting into the environment," said Bob Mead, the Environment Agency's project manager. "For portable batteries, the current rate of collection and recycling are pretty low, the government estimates it at around 3%. The directive requires us to get that up to a minimum of 25% by 2012 and 45% by 2016."
Anyone selling more than a tonne of portable batteries a year will have to arrange for the collection, recycling and disposal of waste batteries in proportion to their market share. But Mead said this did not mean retailers would be burdened with layers of extra responsibility. "The retailers themselves are required to do nothing more than provide a point where one of these collection bins can be placed," he said. "They have no responsibilities themselves in treating or recycling the batteries they collect. They merely have to phone up one of the compliance schemes and say: 'I've got some batteries so come and take them away from me.'"
The directive was created to deal with the approximately 800,000 tonnes of automotive batteries, 190,000 tonnes of industrial batteries and 160,000 tonnes of consumer batteries that are placed on the EU market every year. The metals used range from lead and mercury to nickel, cadmium, zinc, lithium and manganese.
According to the European commission, mercury, lead and cadmium are the most problematic substances in the battery waste stream and batteries made with these metals are classified as hazardous waste. When these waste batteries are burned, they contribute to air pollution and, when they end up in landfill, the metals leach into the surrounding land. In additioon, thousands of tonnes of valuable metals, such as nickel, cobalt and silver, could be recovered if batteries did not go to landfills or incinerators.
[News > UK news > Weather]
More travel disruption as heavy snow moves south
Fears over gas and grit stocks with up to 25cm of snowfall expected in parts of UK today
Matthew Weaver, Martin Wainwright and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 5 January 2010 08.03 GMT Article history
A band of heavy snow moving south from Scotland and northern England is causing widespread travel problems and is likely to cause more disruption as the continuing cold snap prompts concerns over grit and gas supplies.
The National Grid has issued a rare warning to power suppliers to use less gas after a 30% rise on normal seasonal demand. It has urged power companies to switch to coal and order more gas supplies from Belgium and Norway.
Meanwhile councils stock piles of gritting salt for roads are running thin. Emergency deliveries of grit was made to Fife council in Scotland and Pemborkshire in Wales warned that gritting lorries were struggling to cope with the "extraordinary" conditions.
Forecasters are expecting heavy snow for most of the UK today, with up to 25cm (9.8 inches) predicted in some parts prompting the warning of a 60% chance of disruption in most areas.
Manchester airport closed this morning due to heavy snow, and there are problems on roads and railways.
Ten train services between London and Leeds on the East Coast Main Line were cancelled today. Several London to Glasgow services on the line were also stopping at Edinburgh, with a number of others affected.
Budget airline easyJet cancelled a number of flights on its European network, including two between Luton and Milan.
The Highways Agency said the A66 in Cumbria was closed both ways between the junctions with A1 and A685. The closure is expected to last for several hours.
Stephen Davenport, senior meteorologist at MeteoGroup, warned that the cold snap is set in. "So entrenched is this cold-weather pattern that it seems only a major upheaval in the atmosphere will bring a return to something milder.
"Should conditions continue in a similar vein then by March we might just be looking back at one of the coldest winters of the last 100 years."
He warned of "very snowy" conditions from tonight in the south.
"And the highly populated south is likely to see snow that will at times be widespread, persistent and severe enough to bring significant or even major difficulties to infrastructures, particularly transport."
"By Friday or even sooner there will be several centimetres of snow lying over wide areas, to depths of five to 10, or even 15cms. In a few ill-favoured areas the persistence and heaviness of the snow could bring accumulations well in excess of 20 centimetres."
Yesterday the AA reported its busiest ever day, with more than 25,000 breakdowns over the 24 hours.
The AA also warned that the roads were likely to be even busier today when worsening weather conditions combined with the return to school in many areas. Thousands of children are expected to be given more time off school today.
Grit stocks in England are holding up according to the Highways Agency, but Fife council in Scotland had to have several hundred tonnes of salt and grit delivered by the Scottish government after supplies ran low.
Bookmaker Paddy Power cut the odds on this being the coldest January on record from 5/1 to 7/4.
Police in North Yorkshire yesterday brought in mountain rescue teams to search for a man missing in the freezing temperatures. Ian Simpkin, 36, of Wath, near Ripon, North Yorks, left home on foot on Sunday at 10am, but has not been seen since. His parents raised the alarm on Sunday evening. Simpkin, who works at a local scrap yard and is a part-time gamekeeper, had a hospital appointment yesterday, but failed to show up.
Despite an intense search involving police, the Swaledale mountain rescue team, RAF mountain rescue and an RAF helicopter, he remains unaccounted for.
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