Picture yourself on a spaceship, hundreds of miles above the Earth. Your journey into the cosmos will last some time - but, you only have a limited number of resources on board for yourself and your fellow space travellers, which, given their scarcity, you need to manage wisely.
As far back as 1966, economist Kenneth E. Boulding envisioned the need for a movement away from what he termed a "cowboy economy“, based on the assumption of apparently boundless resources, to a "spaceman economy". In his essay “The Coming of a Spaceship Earth,” he made the analogy that...
The owner of a tyre waste business has been given a 15 month custodial sentence, suspended for two years, and a two year supervision order after illegally storing almost 84,659 waste tyres at several sites in Devon. The case was brought by the Environment Agency. Andrew Mayhew pleaded guilty to five offences at Plymouth Crown Court of running a waste operation without the necessary permits, which involved dumping large numbers of tyres at several different sites including Hill Barton Business Park, Exeter; Moor Barton Farm in Tiverton, as well as Dawlish, North Tawton, and Hayedown...
Additional charges for certain types of waste will be brought in at Devon's recycling centres from 1 April.
Soil, rubble, tyres, plasterboard and asbestos have been charged for since 2011 but the same rules will now apply for plastic windows, plastic doors or door frames, baths or shower trays, shower screens, insulation materials, roofing felt and plastic downpipes, facias or guttering.
Visitors to recycling centres will be asked for £3.50 for each of these items, £3.50 for a bag or roll of insulation material or roofing felt. Guttering pipes will be charged at £3.50 for...
An Exeter charity has just set a new record in its work to prevent good food from being wasted and to support local community organisations across the city.
Devon and Cornwall Food Association, based in South Street, rescued over six tonnes of edible produce in December 2014, bringing the total saved last year to over 26,000 kilos.
Through its work with volunteers, in-date foodstuffs which are destined for landfill or incineration are collected daily and stored temporarily.
They are then re-distributed to dozens of community groups which support some of the most...
Ten Scouts from 7th Exmouth Scout Group were on hand to help Coastal Recycling put up bat boxes, bird boxes and install a reptile hibernacula on their recycling site at Kenbury Wood, Kennford, near Exeter.
Coastal Recycling, working with BlueSky Ecology, has developed a new sustainable environmental management plan for the 40 acre site to include a biodiversity enhancement project. The project has involved a complete review of the local habitat and the creation of a plan to support a number of species.
The bat boxes will support the local bat population and are aimed at...
Devon County Council is preparing guidance on the implementation of the county’s new Waste Plan.
Following adoption of the Waste Plan in December, it now forms part of the Development Plan for Devon and is to be considered when determining all planning applications in the county.
Planning applications for housing and commercial development will rely on other organisations, such as district councils and developers, to comply with the plan’s policies on waste prevention, collection and storage infrastructure, and the protection of waste management capacity.
Innovative schemes which can reduce household waste and increase recycling across Devon are being invited to bid for a share of a £4,000 fund from Monday 1 December.
The Devon Authorities Waste Reduction and Recycling Committee (DAWRRC), which represents a partnership between the seven District Councils, Exeter City Council, Torbay Council and Devon County Council, is offering the Innovation Fund to stimulate new approaches to reducing, reusing or recycling household waste in Devon.
The fund is open to all, including individuals, businesses and community groups.
Devon County Council has welcomed the Inspector’s report on the Devon Waste Plan.
Following the examination hearings into the Devon Waste Plan that were held this summer, the report concludes that, with the modifications recommended by the Inspector, the Plan is sound and provides an appropriate basis for waste planning in Devon over the period to 2031.
It is now the responsibility of the County Council to consider the adoption of the Plan, which is anticipated by December 2014.
Once adopted, the Devon Waste Plan will provide the policy for waste management...
Residents in Devon are being invited to share their views on the County Council’s plans to make savings to its waste management service.
The changes, which could save the service around £265,000 next year, are part of the £100 million savings Devon County Council has to make by 2017 in response to spending reductions imposed by the Government.
The six week consultation sets out proposals to ask residents to pay towards the cost of disposing of waste materials from the repair or improvement of their houses, including UPVC windows and door, baths or shower trays, shower...
Help the environment, save money and energy - all reasons why people in Devon are being encouraged to keep up efforts to prevent waste going to landfill.
At the moment, the recycling rate in Devon stands at 55% which puts it as one of the best performing councils in the country.
However, with a target of 60% by 2020, further work is essential to carry on the good work by householders.
One of the main benefits of recycling is the cost saving. Disposing of a tonne of waste costs around £115 per tonne, whilst recycling a tonne of waste can give an income of between £30...
