Waste

From rare bacteria to ‘forever chemicals’, a series of cases of violations or alleged pollution has prompted alarmWhen officials in Wyoming conducted a routine test on the water that was being discharged from a massive under-construction Meta datacenter, it was a shock to find it contained a rare and potentially hazardous bacterium.While the wastewater flushed into sewers in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was never destined for the public drinking supply, the presence of Cupriavidus gilardii bacterium in 801,000 gallons of water ejected by a contractor for the datacenter earlier this year was still unnerving. Continue reading...

Dump site in Conakry, which minister had just promised to move, collapsed after heavy rain in west African stateA ⁠landslide at a huge waste dump in Guinea’s capital has killed 30 people, the government said on Sunday, after heavy rains overnight prompted it to ⁠collapse, engulfing nearby tents and shacks.The incident occurred less than a week after the government announced plans to close the ⁠site and relocate the waste because of the threat it posed, especially during the rainy season, which causes landslides and fatal flash ⁠floods each year in crowded, underdeveloped cities across parts of West Africa. Continue reading...

The prime minister has promised a crackdown on criminal gangs making money from dumping waste Hello and welcome to the UK politics live blog.The days of criminal gangs making easy money from dumping waste are “over”, the prime minister will say on a visit to a waste site in Yorkshire later today.These toxic dumps have blighted communities for too long. I said we would clean them up – and that’s exactly what we’re announcing today.These mountains of rubbish have been a clear sign to communities that politics hasn’t been working for them or their area.This government is going to tackle the issues that have been ignored by Westminster for too long and bring back hope.Andy Burnham has said government money alone may not be enough to get rough sleepers off the streets by Christmas, as he issued a “rallying call” for councils, charities and communities to help solve the problem. Speaking on a visit to the north-east of England, he said he felt “very passionately” about tackling homelessness and wanted the wider society to play a part in wiping it out.Burnham is “too chicken” to approve the controversial Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gasfields, the Tories have claimed. Production had been approved by the previous Conservative government, but those decisions were quashed after a legal challenge by Greenpeace, leaving Labour ministers to decide whether drilling should go ahead.Labour could lose dozens of seats to the Green party if the government allows new drilling in the North Sea, according to internal research shared with the Guardian. Green party analysis suggests up to 50 Labour MPs – including key Andy Burnham ally Louise Haigh – could lose their seats at the next election if the government fails to make urgent climate action a priority or allows new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea.The Tories believe they can cut energy bills by £540 a year for the next two decades by prioritising cheap energy over net zero. Speaking in London, the shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said, when she was a minister, civil servants had been unable to prove to her that wind and solar energy was cheaper than fossil fuels.Burnham has warned of the dangers of open-water swimming as he called the deaths of a mother, father and their teenage daughter who got into difficulty in water off Sussex “a terrible family tragedy”. The prime minister expressed his sympathies as a young girl from the same family remained in a critical condition in hospital. Continue reading...

Researchers find microplastics can persist in compost, leaching into agricultural soilsPlastic contamination should be a central concern in efforts to deal with food waste, which campaigners call one of the most overlooked problems of the climate crisis, researchers have said.This is despite the fact that, as the chef, author and activist Max La Manna puts it, food waste management is “one of the few climate problems where everyone wins”. Continue reading...

Industry body calls for more regular reviews of repeat prescriptions to tackle ‘growing problem’The amount of wasted medicines thrown away in England in one year could fill 75 swimming pools, according to a pharmacy group.The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) estimated that 3,400 tonnes of partly used medicines were disposed of in England in 2024-25. Continue reading...

A Guardian investigation finds irrigation canals polluted with microplastics in Turkey, a major destination for UK waste• ‘Nobody cares’: Turkish farmers bear the burden of UK’s plastic waste problemHigh levels of microplastics and other plastic contamination have been discovered in a waterway close to a major recycling hub in Turkey supplied with plastic waste by British companies.The polluted waterway, which floods into agricultural fields after heavy rain, feeds into a larger canal used for irrigating crops on the Çukurova plain, in the city of Adana, in the south of the country. It is one of the largest and most fertile agricultural basins in Turkey. Continue reading...

Officials have long lobbied for peak that rises 2,918 metres above sea level to be given coveted designationMore than four decades have elapsed since Evangelos Geroliolios made his first ascent to the home of the ancient gods. At the top of Mount Olympus, on the rocky peak of Greece’s highest mountain, he felt unalloyed awe.“I’ve never forgotten that unique moment, that unique feeling up there on the throne of Zeus,” recalled Geroliolios, who as mayor of Dion-Olympus now spends a great deal of his time administering the area around the site. Continue reading...