Nestlé and UK supermarkets sign open letter calling for G7 nations to show leadership this June Major packaging producers and environmental charities have called for the G7 summit to agree to a global treaty on plastic to tackle the waste crisis. Nestlé, one of the largest creators of plastic waste, has joined the supermarkets Aldi, Iceland and the Co-op as signatories in an open letter that supports a binding worldwide treaty to tackle plastic pollution. The letter, also supported by the TV presenter Chris Packham and activist groups Surfers Against Sewage and A Plastic Planet, says that only a global approach will start to tackle the problem. “Some 300m tonnes of plastic waste [are] produced every year,” the letter said. “Less than 10% of all plastic has ever been recycled. The rest piles up in landfill, is incinerated, or ends up littering our natural environment for centuries.” The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to the plastic waste crisis in the form of mountains of discarded PPE. “The pandemic has only sent us deeper into this crisis. In just two months, 1bn items of PPE were handed out in the UK alone. Globally, 3m face masks are thrown away every minute –...

Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Memorial Day 2021 will occur on Monday, May 31. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season. Early Observances of Memorial Day The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries. By the late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers. Did you know? Each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3:00 p.m. local time. It is unclear where exactly this tradition originated; numerous different communities may have independently initiated the memorial gatherings. And some records show that one of the earliest Memorial Day commemorations was organized by a group...

Junk removal from residential and commercial places is an essential part of having a clean and healthy life. There are many different types of junk that people want to get rid of and there are plenty of ways to remove it. The most common being hiring a junk removal service provider that would not only do the heavy lifting but would also appropriately dispose of the material. Some people try to donate it to charity while others sell them on Craigslist. Either way, if the junk or debris is heavy, households have to personally do the cleaning and move it around and that can be quite a challenge especially when you’re without a helper. Can Junk Be Recycled? Of course, junk can absolutely be recycled. In fact, many junk items must be recycled for the safety of the environment. So, what kinds of junk can be recycled? Let us learn about the different types of junk that can be recycled. E-waste: Electronic waste such as monitors, laptops, keyboards can be donated or sold to relevant organizations to be recycled. This only protects the environment but also keeps your house clean and tidy. Furniture: Although furniture can be easily recycled, unfortunately,...

More than one-third of the world’s heat deaths each year are due directly to global warming, according to the latest study to calculate the human cost of climate change. But scientists say that’s only a sliver of climate’s overall toll — even more people die from other extreme weather amplified by global warming such as storms, flooding and drought — and the heat death numbers will grow exponentially with rising temperatures. Dozens of researchers who looked at heat deaths in 732 cities around the globe from 1991 to 2018 calculated that 37 percent were caused by higher temperatures from human-caused warming, according to a study Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. That amounts to about 9,700 people a year from just those cities, but it is much more worldwide, the study’s lead author said. “These are deaths related to heat that actually can be prevented. It is something we directly cause,” said Ana Vicedo-Cabrera, an epidemiologist at the Institute of Social and Preventative Medicine at the University of Bern in Switzerland. The highest percentages of heat deaths caused by climate change were in cities in South America. Vicedo-Cabrera pointed to southern Europe and southern Asia as other hot spots...

Construction and demolition waste removal is a huge problem for many households especially if debris is in large quantities. There are many companies offering dedicated services including Haultail® to help solve this problem. Now, while Haultail® has been at the center of providing world-class construction and demolition waste removal services in the United States, there are many service providers that fail to deliver. What Exactly is Construction and Demolition Waste Removal? Construction and demolition waste removal is the process of getting rid of construction debris and junk accumulated during the construction process. The removal process, although sounds simple, is actually not. Depending on the size and scale of the demolition or the construction, the waste is piled up. However, to remove it, you need expertise, the right set of tools, and experience possessed by the likes of Haultail®. We can not only do it efficiently but also at significantly lower costs compared to others. Once a building is demolished, it has something called retrievable items. These include wood, metal, bricks, and tiles; most of the time, these bricks, titles, etc. can be disposed of using our debris removal service. Along with these, we also dispose of concrete waste, but for...

By Linda Stewart The Pacific Ocean is beautiful. However, halfway between California and Hawaii, the ocean is also the site of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. At over 600,000 miles, it is more than twice the size of France. The detritus already weighs around 87,000 tons and is growing by the day. Bottles, bags, fishing nets, and such items comprise the huge garbage dump. The patch is made up of around 1.8 trillion pieces of trash. If not removed, this garbage patch will only grow and soon acquire unmanageable proportions. We have been using plastic only since the 1950s. We don’t really know how long this plastic will take to degrade. It could take years or even centuries. This patch has been around since the mid-1980s. This huge swirl of plastic waste is of particular concern to Hawaii. It is humongous, larger than France, Germany, and Spain put together. Floating garbage is extremely harmful to the marine ecosystem off the coast of Hawaii. Turtles, dolphins, sharks, whales, porpoises, snakes, and different species of fish get entangled and killed because of this plastic waste spread over the Pacific. Filter feeders like oysters and mussels consume microscopic particles of plastic, and this...

By Linda Stewart Batteries are categorized as hazardous waste. When it comes to addressing this issue, the best thing to do is to choose reusable batteries over single-use ones. This is an eco-friendly alternative and reduces the environmental pressures on an island like Hawaii and its fragile ecosystems. Batteries are an inalienable part of our lives. Mobile phones, toys, vehicles, and backup power in hospitals, etc. are just some examples of the manner in which batteries contribute to our lives. America relies on batteries to accomplish many tasks. Each year, almost 3 million dry cell batteries are sold across America. These are used to run laptops, portable power tools, mobile phones, watches, clocks, and assorted appliances and gadgets. Batteries generate power from the interaction of an electrolyte with metal. Wet cell batteries are used to power vehicles, boats, etc. Each year, close to 100 million wet cell lead-acid car batteries are manufactured in America. Battery recycling plays an important role in keeping heavy metals and chemicals out of landfills where they could react with the earth and other materials in the landfill to release harmful chemicals into the water and air. Recycling also helps conserve resources. Incorrect disposal of batteries...