UK is endangering people's health by denying their right to clean air, says UN
David Boyd, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, has recently stated that “people’s right to breathe clean air was being violated in the UK and warned the crisis was responsible for up to 50,000 deaths and devastating the lives of many millions” across the country.
This comes after last month whereby Unicef had “refocused its UK operation to tackle air pollution” due to the huge amount of health risks facing young people in the country.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/1...
Plastic recycling industry's problems costing councils up to £500,000 a year
Local councils are “struggling” to deal with the “continuing fallout from import bands imposed by countries who are no longer able to take the UK’s waste.” This struggle amounts to 14 councils across the country spending, on average, £500,000 more every year to tackle their waste and recycling challenges.
This comes at the same time as some local councils, such as Swindon council, deciding in December whether “to end its plastic collections for recycling altogether” due to growing concerns about the UK’s capacity “to process low-grade plastic”.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/2...
Philip Morris accused of hypocrisy over anti-smoking ad
Earlier this week Philip Morris, one of the world’s biggest tobacco firms, came under fire after they published a new ad campaign that encourages smokers to quit. A move that has since been described as “staggering hypocrisy”.
It has been highlighted that the tobacco firm “still promotes smoking outside the UK” and that if Philip Morris was serious about their plan to “ultimately stop selling cigarettes” then they would simply just have to stop selling cigarettes.
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45932048
Plastic recycling firms accused of abusing market
Recent reports have surfaced that indicate that firms “are illegally profiting from the market and in some cases polluting rivers”. An investigation has been launched that is pursuing “several lines of enquiry”. This follows the reports that “Six UK exporters of plastic waste have had their licences suspended or cancelled in the last three months”.
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45911794