The Guardian: "Easter-egg makers not doing enough to cut packaging, says MP"

Link to The Guardian

"Commercially produced Easter eggs generate an estimated 3,000 tonnes of UK waste each year, according to the government's waste advisory body, Wrap. But despite some improvements, many Easter chocolate products remain over-packaged and unrecyclable, according to a report by the Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson, a long-standing campaigner against excessive and wasteful packaging.

"Her 2012 Easter Egg Packaging report found that, on average, only 38% of what is in an Easter egg box is an egg – the same figure as last year. It also criticises some manufacturers for failing to ensure their packages are made from widely recyclable materials, which means that much of the packaging still ends up in landfill sites."

BBC: "What should be done about plastic bags?"

Link to BBC web site

"The European Commission is to publish proposals in the spring designed to reduce the number of plastic bags used in Europe each year. Most of the 15,000 people who took part in a public consultation favoured an outright ban - but what are the options?

"... If shoppers stop using plastic bags, they must start using other kinds of bags, but there is no perfect solution. Stronger, heavier bags, whether made of fabric or plastic, have a bigger environmental impact than standard supermarket shopping bags.

"If a plastic bag is used just once, then a paper bag must be used three times to compensate for the larger amount of carbon used in manufacturing and transporting it, a plastic 'bag for life' must be used four times, and a cotton bag must be used 131 times."

The Guardian: "London air pollution at record high"

Link to The Guardian

"Air pollution in London hit record levels on Thursday due to a combination of traffic fumes, relatively still weather and an influx of dirty air from the north of England and northern France. Poor conditions are affecting a swath of the country as far north as Leeds and York

"... Last month, the environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, was criticised by an influential group of MPs for rejecting their recommendations to cut pollution on the grounds that it was too costly. Poor air quality has been linked to nearly one in five deaths a year in London. The capital's poor air quality, caused largely by traffic, has seen the UK facing £300m in fines for breaching EU targets. The government has successfully lobbied Europe to push back the deadline for meeting the targets."

Grimshaw Architects: "SITA Energy from Waste Centre, Great Blakenham, Suffolk"

Link to Grimshaw web site

"... The proposed Suffolk site is currently occupied by a Council works department, but backs directly onto the Gipping Valley. The response proposed is to create a building whose appearance reflects both the industrial agricultural heritage of Suffolk, and the constantly changing character of the sky."