(ICN) BURNING PLASTIC WASTE

Several global trends are colliding with disastrous consequences for health and the environment, new research warns.

Plastic production has skyrocketed since the 1950s, from a few million tons a year to nearly half a billion tons today, and is on track to triple by 2060. And since just a small fraction of plastics is recycled, millions of tons of plastic—derived from fossil fuels and loaded with toxic chemical additives—enter the environment as waste every year. That staggering figure is also likely to triple by midcentury.

For decades, the United States and other high-income countries have exported their plastic waste to low-income countries in the Global South, many ill-equipped to manage the burgeoning waste stream. At the same time, billions of people across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America lack access to clean cooking fuels, adequate sanitation or waste-management services. As urbanization accelerates at an unprecedented rate across those regions, city dwellers living in extreme poverty often resort to burning debris from the massive mounds of plastic waste that inundate their communities.

Concerned that desperately poor people are increasingly turning to plastic waste as a cheap, convenient fuel, an international team of researchers set out to gauge the prevalence and nature of this emerging public health crisis.

In a survey of more than 1,000 people who work with low-income urban communities across the Global South, the team found that people living in slums without power hookups in more than two dozen countries are burning the plastic waste that surrounds their communities to cook, heat their homes and dispose of garbage.

In a previous paper, a subset of the authors cited anecdotal reports that increasing numbers of poor people living in slums without basic waste-disposal and energy services have resorted to burning plastic trash as an alternative fuel. More of this article (Inside Climate News) - link - more like this (plastic) - link - more like this (sub-Saharan Africa) - link

(OFF) LIONLINK INTERCONNECTOR

National Grid Ventures (NGV) has published updated proposals for the LionLink interconnector, which will connect the future Nederwiek 3 offshore wind farm in the Netherlands to the UK and Dutch grids.

NGV, responsible for building and operating the UK side of LionLink, has now opened an eight-week public consultation for the revised plan that, among other things, names Walberswick as the planned landfall site for the subsea cable.

Following previous consultations on LionLink in 2022 and 2023, NGV announced that the subsea cable for LionLink will be located onshore at Walberswick.

On 19 February 2025, NGV said it selected Walberswick as the preferred landfall location for the new subsea interconnector since the site required a shorter onshore cable route (19.9 kilometres) compared to the alternative Southwold route (32.8 kilometres), reducing the environmental impact and disruption to residents. Walberswick is also less susceptible to coastal erosion and flooding, making it a more sustainable option for the long-term operation of LionLink, NGV says.

NGV stated on 8 January that it was also working closely with local authorities to ensure that no construction takes place on the beach, and that there will be no visible infrastructure once the project is complete. Eighty-four per cent of the UK section of the LionLink cable will be offshore, and all onshore sections will be buried underground. More of this article (offshorewind.biz) - link - more like this (Netherlands) - link - more like this (wind) - link

(NEO) 500,000 MIRRORS

(08/01/25)

Imagine a world where clean energy fuels our homes, industries, and cities, drastically reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. At the heart of this vision lies the largest solar generator on the planet, a monumental structure that harnesses the power of the sun using advanced technology. This is the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS), where 500,000 mirrors diligently work in order to produce renewable energy in the scorching Mojave Desert.

Located in California’s San Bernardino County, ISEGS represents a giant leap forward in solar power technology. Officially operational since December 30, 2013, this 386-megawatt facility consists of three solar thermal power plants, collectively utilizing 173,500 heliostats—mirrors that concentrate sunlight onto power tower receivers.

Developed by BrightSource Energy and constructed by Bechtel, this project was a collaboration that also received significant financial backing from NRG Energy and Google.

The three plants—Power Plant 1, Power Plant 2, and Power Plant 3—operated on a similar principle yet vary in size and capacity. Power Plant 1 produces 120 megawatts with 53,500 heliostats, while the other two plants generate 133 megawatts each with 60,000 heliostats. The expansive facility stretches over 3,500 acres at the base of Clark Mountain, displaying a remarkable engineering feat that is designed to maximize solar energy capture.

The operation of ISEGS hinges on its innovative steam turbine technology. The heliostats track the trajectory of the sun, directing concentrated sunlight to the receivers atop the towers, which absorb the heat to produce steam.

This steam powers Rankine-cycle reheat turbines, generating electricity that feeds into the grid and provides power to approximately 140,000 homes.

To ensure consistent energy production, especially during low sunlight periods, each plant is equipped with natural gas-fired steam boilers. These supplementary systems ensure that operations can continue smoothly, demonstrating the facility’s hybrid approach to energy generation. More of this article (News Ongoing) - link - more like this (solar) - link - more like this (Mojave Desert) - link - more like this (heliostats) - link

(SMA) WALMART & AVERY - RETAIL SUSTAINABILITY

Walmart and Avery Dennison have joined forces to make radio-frequency identification (RFID) tech work on new categories on shelves, including meat and deli. The United Nations has identified food waste as a US$1tn opportunity for the retail sector.

However, this opportunity can only be realised when there is collaboration and innovation across the value chain.

This collaboration and innovation could be epitomised by a partnership between Walmart and Avery Dennison, which is advancing the use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology in fresh categories that were previously not possible.

According to Walmart: "Addressing food waste and ensuring freshness are more important than ever for consumers, producers and retailers. This first to market solution is set to transform inventory processes and enhance associate and customer experiences across fresh departments – particularly bakery, meat and deli."

The retailer adds: "This is practical innovation, bringing RFID technology – once limited by temperature and moisture limitations - to new categories like protein and deli. This is technology connecting the physical and digital to reduce waste, improve labour efficiency, enhance consumer experiences and advance sustainability."

RFID technology in fresh departments

Walmart teams with packaging and containers manufacturer Avery Dennison to create and test sensor technology that brings RFID-enabled labels to the meat department. The solution addresses an enduring challenge for food retailers of using RFID technology in high-moisture, cold environments like meat cases.

Avery Dennison brings the solution to Walmart, gives the retailer the ability to track inventory faster and more accurately, making sure products stay stocked and ready when customers want them.

The solution works for meat, bakery and deli products, gives employees digital use-by dates at their fingertips, boosts their ability to rotate products more efficiently and make smarter markdown decisions, helps cut down on unsold food.

Operational efficiencies for retailers

Leaders at Walmart and Avery Dennison are enthusiastic about the efficiencies and improvements that the RFID solution can bring to Walmart's 11,000-plus stores across the globe. Christyn Keef, VP of Front End Transformation for Walmart US, says: "We believe technology should make things easier for our associates and our customers. By cuts down on manual work, we give our associates more time to focus on what really matters – helping our customers."

Julie Vargas, VP and GM of Avery Dennison Identification Solutions, says: "Supporting Walmart with first to market RFID innovation across multiple fresh food categories demonstrates our mutual commitment to people and the planet.

"By providing each item with its own digital identity, associates instantly know the freshness of the foods they are handling, enables better inventory management and results in less waste." More of this article (Sustainability Magazine) - link - more like this (Walmart) - link - more like this (RFID) - link

(ICN) PENNSYLVANIA'S WESTMORELAND LEGACY

BELLE VERNON, Pa.—Off a back road in the hilly country south of Pittsburgh, a tributary to the Monongahela River runs through overgrown vegetation and beneath an abandoned railroad trestle, downstream from the Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill. On a cool day in late July, it was swollen with rain. Tire tracks through the dense brush were puddled with muddy water.

Environmental scientist Yvonne Sorovacu and local watershed advocate Hannah Hohman, her glasses spattered with raindrops, stood together under an umbrella, watching the tumble of the stream. Both women visit the landfill site regularly to collect water samples and record signs of contamination. The water here, which flows downhill from the landfill’s discharge point, is often coated with stiff globs of foam, Sorovacu said. The water upstream of the outfall is clear.

Over the course of more than a decade, as Pennsylvania’s fracking industry took off, the Westmoreland landfill accepted hundreds of thousands of tons of oil and gas waste and wastewater, toxic and often radioactive byproducts that contain elements and heavy metals from deep inside the earth and synthetic chemicals used in the drilling process. That melange can include radionuclides like radium, uranium and thorium as well as harmful substances like arsenic, lead and benzene.

After years of violations at Westmoreland, scientists and residents are keeping a close watch on the landfill, monitoring for any signs that runoff has made its way into public waterways. But oil and gas waste is going to landfills across the state, often with far less scrutiny. At least twenty-two other landfills currently take Pennsylvania oil and gas waste, and some also accept it from other states.

Oil and gas companies operating in Pennsylvania reported creating nearly 8.8 million tons of solid waste between 2017 and 2024, an Inside Climate News analysis of state records found. In an average year, that tops the waste produced by every resident and commercial enterprise in Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located.

According to Pennsylvania oil and gas operators, about 6.3 million tons of this waste went to landfills in the state. But the true amount of oil and gas waste reaching the state’s landfills is likely much larger, an Inside Climate News investigation found.

And mounting evidence suggests that this ever-increasing volume is harming the streams, creeks and rivers where Pennsylvanians fish, swim, kayak and source drinking water.

In one case, at Max Environmental Technologies Bulger in southwestern Pennsylvania, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified the radioactive element radium, a common contaminant in oil and gas waste, as one of the likely causes of the pollution in nearby creeks. In a 2023 study, scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University found elevated levels of radium in the sediment downstream of the outfall at five of the landfills taking the industry’s waste. Scientists have also discovered radium build-up in freshwater mussels’ bodies and shells downstream of facilities that have treated oil and gas waste.

Four of the landfills taking oil and gas waste are out of compliance with their permits, an Inside Climate News review found. Another seven have been out of compliance with the Clean Water Act for six months or more in the last five years. Thirteen are discharging wastewater or stormwater into waterways the EPA classified as “impaired,” too polluted or otherwise degraded to meet water-quality standards. More of this article (Inside Climate News) - link - more like this (polluted water) - link - more like this (Pennsylvania) - link

(GUF) CLIMATE WARMING - LIGHTEN UP

It should go without saying but these days it rarely does, that recognising some benefits of a changing climate is not the same as celebrating climate change.

• Climate change is real.
• Human activity is a driver.
• Mitigation matters.
• Decarbonisation is essential.

All of that can be true at the same time as another, less fashionable truth - climate change is happening regardless and Britain would be foolish not to adapt intelligently, pragmatically and without endless self flagellation. We can walk and chew gum at the same time, albeit, preferably sustainably sourced gum.

Chapel Down - World-Class Wine from British Vines

One of the most vivid examples of positive climate linked opportunity in Britain’s agricultural landscape is Chapel Down’s official site – England’s leading wine producer, a vineyard and winery based in Kent’s Garden of England. What was once a niche enterprise has become a globally respected producer of both sparkling and still wines with results that challenge centuries old assumptions about where great wine can come from.

Their Rosé English sparkling wine has been named ‘Best in Show’ at the Decanter World Wine Awards, ranking among the top 50 wines in the world; a rare accolade for a UK producer. Multiple wines, including the Kit’s Coty Blanc de Blancs and Coeur de Cuvée have won Gold medals at major competitions like the International Wine Challenge.

Chapel Down isn’t just producing wine, it’s changing perceptions. Their success demonstrates that English terroir, aided by a warming growing season and a focus on quality viticulture can compete on international stages traditionally dominated by France and other warmer regions proving that while climate change poses undeniable risks, there are examples on the ground of Britain adapting and thriving in new ways. English viticulture, exemplified by producers like Chapel Down now earns international acclaim. These successes are not a denial of climate change, they're proof that investment, ingenuity and changing conditions can unlock opportunities that were once unimaginable here.

If we’re serious about food miles, land efficiency and agricultural resilience, this is exactly what adaptation looks like.This isn’t greenwashing or wishful thinking, it’s terroir shifting north and Britain responding competently.

Fruit & Horticulture: Less Importing, More Growing

Warmer average temperatures and longer growing seasons are already reshaping British horticulture. Expanded soft fruit production; strawberries, raspberries, blueberries - improved yields and consistency for apples, pears and cherries - commercial viability where crops once struggled. This matters, because every tonne grown domestically means fewer refrigerated lorries crossing borders; less exposure to global supply shocks and more resilience baked into UK food security. This isn’t pretending that Britain will become Tuscany; more, playing the hand we’ve been dealt, responsibly.

Case Study: Thanet Earth — Britain’s Greenhouse Revolution

Nestled in East Kent, Thanet Earth is the largest greenhouse complex in the UK and a real story of home-grown innovation and resilience. Thanet Earth produces hundreds of millions of fresh vegetables including tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet peppers every year, supplying major supermarkets and significantly boosting domestic salad crop output.

Using cutting edge controlled environment glasshouses and hydroponic systems, the facility maximises efficiency, uses less water and reduces nutrient waste compared to traditional methods.

Combined heat and power (CHP) systems provide necessary heat and light and excess electricity is exported back to the grid, helping power local homes and smooth peak demand.

Thanet Earth continues to grow; a seventh high-tech glasshouse is underway (completion was due late 2025) adding 6.5 hectares (16 acres) of growing space for 150 million extra tomatoes a year at a cost of £20 million taking its total area to over 50 hectares (124 acres).

Partnerships like the new Centre of Excellence in greenhouse growing with Hadlow College are training the next generation of horticultural experts, a tangible investment in British agricultural skills and long term food resilience.

Thanet Earth ticks a lot of the boxes that climate adaptation advocates want to highlight: investment in domestic food production reduces reliance on imports subject to supply shocks - innovative technologies reduce resource use and align with sustainability goals.

It’s not just about crops growing in a warmer world, it’s about Britain building systems that thrive with change rather than just suffer from it and it’s not just wine and tomatoes. Across the UK, a quietly expanding range of sectors is already adapting and in some cases benefitting from changing climatic conditions.

Warmer, more reliable growing seasons are supporting hops and craft brewing, extending soft fruit production, and improving the viability of forestry and large-scale tree planting. At the same time, investment in solar and wind energy continues to strengthen Britain’s energy resilience, while longer flowering periods are aiding beekeeping and pollination services vital to food production. Aquaculture and sustainably managed fisheries are evolving alongside shifting marine conditions and demand is rising for green construction, retrofit and low-carbon building technologies. Improvements in logistics and cold-chain efficiency, alongside the growth of climate-smart and urban greening infrastructure are making towns and cities more resilient, healthier and more liveable.

This isn’t celebrating climate change, it’s celebrating human ingenuity in a changing context and showing that resilient, sustainable British agriculture is not only possible but happening now. Britain endlessly framing itself as a climate victim while refusing to acknowledge adaptive gains does two damaging things:

• It undermines public trust
• It fuels fatigue, cynicism, and disengagement

People don’t stop caring because the problem is hard. They stop caring because the message is relentlessly miserable. The responsible position is not constant alarm — it’s measured adaptation paired with honest mitigation - to celebrate progress where it exists and plan soberly for what’s coming.

Maybe it's time to stop pretending optimism is treason. If climate action is to endure, it must be livable, believable and occasionally allowed to smile because a society that only cries wolf eventually stops listening even when the wolf is real. More like this (wine making) - link - more like this (vegetables) - link - more like this (climate) - link

(MOT) ORBITAL WASTE INCINERATION

On a mid-November evening, at precisely 7:12 p.m., a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the Florida coast. It appeared to be a perfect launch. At an altitude of about 40 miles, the rocket’s first stage separated and fell back to Earth, eventually alighting in a gentle, controlled landing on a SpaceX ship idling in the Atlantic Ocean.

The mission’s focus then returned to the rocket’s payload: 29 Starlink communication satellites that were to be deployed in low-Earth orbit, about 340 miles above the planet’s surface. With this new fleet of machines, Starlink was expanding its existing mega-constellation so that it numbered over 9,000 satellites, all circling Earth at about 17,000 miles per hour.

Launches like this have become commonplace. As of late November, SpaceX had sent up 152 Falcon 9 missions in 2025—an annual record for the company. And while SpaceX is the undisputed leader in rocket launches, the space economy now ranges beyond American endeavors to involve orbital missions—military, scientific, and corporate—originating from Europe, China, Russia, India, Israel, Japan, and South Korea. This year the global total of orbital launches will near 300 for the first time, and there seems little doubt it will continue to climb.

Starlink has sought permission from the Federal Communications Commission to expand its swarm, which at this point comprises the vast majority of Earth’s active satellites, so that it might within a few years have as many as 42,000 units in orbit. Blue Origin, the rocket company led by Jeff Bezos, is in the early stages of helping to deploy a satellite network for Amazon, a constellation of about 3,000 units known as Amazon Leo. European companies, such as France’s Eutelsat, plan to expand space-based networks, too.

“We’re now at 12,000 active satellites, and it was 1,200 a decade ago, so it’s just incredible,” Jonathan MacDowell, a scientist at Harvard and the Smithsonian who has been tracking space launches for several decades, told me recently. MacDowell notes that based on applications to communications agencies, as well as on corporate projections, the satellite business will continue to grow at an extraordinary rate. By 2040, it’s conceivable that more than 100,000 active satellites would be circling Earth.

But counting the number of launches and satellites has so far proven easier than measuring their impacts. For the past decade, astronomers have been calling attention to whether so much activity high above might compromise their opportunities to study distant objects in the night sky. At the same time, other scientists have concentrated on the physical dangers. Several studies project a growing likelihood of collisions and space debris—debris that could rain down on Earth or, in rare cases, on cruising airplanes.

More recently, however, scientists have become alarmed by two other potential problems: the emissions from rocket fuels, and the emissions from satellites and rocket stages that mostly ablate (that is, burn up) on reentry. “Both of these processes are producing pollutants that are being injected into just about every layer of the atmosphere,” explains Eloise Marais, an atmospheric scientist at University College London, who compiles emissions data on launches and reentries.

As Marais told me, it’s crucial to understand that Starlink’s satellites, as well as those of other commercial ventures, don’t stay up indefinitely. With a lifetime usefulness of about five years, they are regularly deorbited and replaced by others. The new satellite business thus has a cyclical quality: launch, deploy, deorbit, destroy. And then repeat.

The cycle suggests we are using Earth’s mesosphere and stratosphere—the layers above the surface-hugging troposphere—as an incinerator dump for space machinery. Or as Jonathan MacDowell puts it: “We are now in this regime where we are doing something new to the atmosphere that hasn’t been done before.” MacDowell and some of his colleagues seem to agree that we don’t yet understand how—or how much—the reentries and launches will alter the air. As a result, we’re unsure what the impacts may be to Earth’s weather, climate, and (ultimately) its inhabitants. More of this article (Mother Jones) - link - more like this (SpaceX) - link - more like this (space) - link

(GRE) BEYOND MEAT RELEASES CLIMATE IMPACT DATA

Plant-based giant Beyond Meat has revealed the results of its latest LCA on its flagship burger and made its first carbon disclosure submission in November.

Beyond Meat has released the climate impact data of the latest iteration of its plant-based burger, reiterating its environmental superiority over conventional beef.

The Californian company unveiled its Beyond IV platform of products in early 2024, swapping canola and coconut oils for avocado oil and adding fava beans and red lentils to the formulation of its beef mince and burger.

The changes were meant to boost the taste and nutritional credentials of Beyond Meat’s alternatives, but they also altered the product’s environmental footprint.

Beyond Meat has previously released life-cycle assessment (LCA) results for the first and third versions of the Beyond Burger, the latter coming in 2023. The latest study looks at Beyond Burger IV, and reveals similar reductions in emissions, land use, and water consumption compared to beef.

The LCA focused on global warming impact, non-renewable energy use, water consumption, and land use. The data shows that burger manufacturing is the single-largest contributor to the Beyond Burger’s greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 18.6% of the total.

As a category, though, the production of ingredients is the main culprit responsible for the burger’s climate footprint, totalling 34.9% of its emissions, 25% of its non-renewable energy use, 90% of land use, and 75% of water consumption.

Within the ingredients, the highest impact comes from pea protein, which makes up 8.3% of its emissions, 55% of its land use impact, and 8% of its non-renewable energy use. Avocado oil leads the way in terms of water consumption (contributing to 53% of the total), and accounts for 7.7% of the Beyond Burger IV’s emissions, 12% of its land use, and 3.9% of its fossil energy consumption. More of this articles (green queen) - link - more like this (plant based food) - link - more like this (beyond meat) - link

(GUF) WHEN SHOPS CANCEL YOU (PART 2)

If a supermarket is using facial recognition for identification, you are legally entitled to ask a clear and specific set of questions about that processing.

Under Articles 13, 14 and 15 of the UK GDPR, individuals have a right to transparency about how their personal data is used, particularly where high-risk biometric data is involved.

Article 13 applies where data is collected directly from you (for example, in-store facial capture). It requires the organisation to explain the purpose of processing, the legal basis relied upon, retention periods, and your rights.

Article 14 applies where data is obtained indirectly (for example via a watchlist or third-party system), and adds the requirement to explain the source of that data.

Article 15 establishes the Right of Access, commonly exercised via a Subject Access Request (SAR), allowing you to obtain confirmation that your data is being processed and meaningful details about how.

In simple terms, you are entitled to ask:

• What personal data they hold about you
• Why they’re holding it
• Where it came from
• Who it’s shared with (or the categories of recipients)
• How long they plan to keep it

These rights are not optional or discretionary — they are core GDPR obligations.

For clarity, where a shop captures biometric facial recognition data, a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) is mandatory. While the DPIA document itself may remain internal, the outcomes, risks, and safeguards cannot be hidden.

You are therefore fully entitled to ask questions such as:

• Has a DPIA been carried out for this facial recognition system?
• What key risks were identified?
• What safeguards were put in place as a result?
• Is biometric data stored, or merely processed transiently?
• Is it shared with third parties or suppliers?
• What human oversight exists?
• How can an individual challenge or object to the processing?

If an organisation refuses to answer those questions, that is a red flag, not because the DPIA itself must be disclosed but because UK GDPR requires meaningful transparency, particularly where biometric identification is concerned. More like this (GDPR) - link - more like this (digital ID) - link - more like this (supermarkets) - link