As the hot weather continues its hold over the Mediterranean and thousands are evacuated from the Greek island of Rhodes, the impacts of climate change are becoming clearer and clearer for all to see. There are still good news stories and positive steps that some are taking though!
Ocado’s Deposit Return Scheme!
Ahead of the UK-wide Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) rollout in 2025 which will allow the British public to get some kind of monetary reward for recycling bottles and cans, Ocado is introducing its own DRS mechanism with the aim of increasing the amount of its products that are recycled!
The initial scheme will be targeting milk bottles bought on the Ocado website. Shoppers will be able to scan QR codes on their bottles and claim a 20p reward when they take it to a verified drop-off point that they can then reuse in store!
Rejecting Plastic Manufacturing!
A new INEOS plastic production site that was due to be constructed in the port of the Belgian city of Antwerp has been rejected following a legal challenge by two provinces of the Netherlands that would very likely be affected by the plant. The court found that the company had not provided enough information on what the social and environmental impacts would be and stopped the site from moving forward without further publication.
INEOS has a site in Grangemouth producing plastic nurdles that are then shipped out to manufacturers of plastic products, and anyone who’s visited the beaches there will know that they’re plagued by plastic pollution caused by spillages of these tiny plastic pieces.
At a time when we need to be drastically cutting the amount of plastic that is produced and recycling as much as possible, the world certainly does not need another huge manufacturing facility that just adds to the problem!
French Clothing Repairs
In an attempt to reduce the 700,000 tonnes of clothing that is thrown away in France each year – two-thirds of which ends up in landfill – the French government are setting aside €154million to encourage people to repair their clothing instead of throwing things away!
People will be able to take clothing to workshops and cobblers that have signed up to the scheme to be repaired and will be able to claim back between €6 and €25 on each item of clothing. This is currently going to run for 5-years but that may continue if the campaign proves to be a success!
Should more countries/clothing brands run similar campaigns to reduce the amount of clothing going to waste?
