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Industry chief: Pricing, policies should promote water efficiency
Having safe drinking water should be a basic human right, but consumers and governments also have a duty to set a price high enough to encourage efficiency, says Hans Telgan, who heads Europe’s plastic pipe industry trade association TEPPFA.
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Waste expert: Recycled products ‘faced with the REACH regulation’
Although the REACH law on chemicals does not cover waste as such, it does affect recycled products which rely on secondary raw materials extracted from waste. At the end of the day, recycling companies might find it difficult to comply, holding back the EU's drive to consume less raw materials, says Wobbe van der Meulen.
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Industry chief: ‘In the long run, there is no alternative to bioplastics’
When fossil resources will have practically all been depleted, there will simply be no alternative to bioplastics, argues Hasso von Pogrell. But at the moment, they remain a niche market, despite the rapid increase in production of plant-based bottles.
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World Bank exec: ‘Investment in water has been totally lagging’
Many of the water systems in major cities around the world, including in developed countries, have losses of 30-40%, says Lars H. Thunell of the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC). And that’s not viable, he insists, so we have to make sure we invest.
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Water rights lawyer: Expecting more from the EU
More than one billion people don’t have safe drinking water and more than two billion lack toilets, according to the UN. Access to reliable water and sanitation are now human rights, and the UN’s special rapporteur says the European Union could be doing more – at home and abroad – to uphold these rights.
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Plastic pipe industry chief: Banking on a greener future
Growing market requirements for ‘green procurement’ is driving sustainability, but the success of voluntary corporate sustainability initiatives depends on the attitude and enthusiasm of businesses to live up to higher standards, says Tony Calton.
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The water crisis is now
By 2025 half the world’s population will not have enough water to meet its needs, warns Rashad Kaldany, urging governments and the private sector to work on solutions, which he says, do exist.
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Rio must get it right
The Rio+20 summit cannot afford weak results and must kick off the global transition to a sustainable growth model for the 21st century, writes Connie Hedegaard.
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Behind closed doors: Air quality in buildings
Restrictions on tobacco smoke and the Asbestos scandal have put indoor air quality under the spotlight in the recent past, resulting in tough policies to stop damage to human health. While tobacco continues to be the biggest health culprit, nowadays attention is also turning to "chemical cocktails," toxic fumes from heating and cooking, and damp and mould caused by poor ventilation.
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Trust me, I’m a corporation: Can business drive green growth?
SPECIAL REPORT / Nearly six months after the Rio+20 global environment summit, the jury is still out on whether greener growth can truly happen. In the absence of major commitments by participating countries, EU officials were left placing their hopes on voluntary agreements by industry sectors, including plastics and PVC. But can those deliver?
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Industry aims to ‘close the loop’ on resource use
SPECIAL REPORT / Six months after the Rio+20 Earth Summit, a Belgian company, Deceuninck Nv., has begun living up to the plastic industry's voluntary commitments by turning discarded doors, windows and other goods made with PVC into new products.
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Europe urged to ‘radically transform’ water policy
The European Union needs to "radically transform" the way it manages water, energy and land to ensure the needs of the poorest people are met and the environment is protected, according to the new European Report on Development.
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With Rio setbacks in mind, MEPs press for EU pragmatism
Following its failure to deliver on ambitious plans for the Rio+20 conference, Europe must redouble its climate commitments and be a more pragmatic world leader, say three MEPs involved in shaping environmental legislation.
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PVC industry sees looming clash between chemicals law and recycling
SPECIAL REPORT / Europe’s major pipeline manufactures vow to end the use of lead in hard plastics within two years, but fear proposals to add the metal to a list of dangerous substances would be counterproductive to their efforts to recycle old materials.
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Firms tap technology to improve water delivery
SPECIAL REPORT / Bulgaria loses as much as half its urban water supply through leaks, and across the European Union, some as much as 40% of piped water never makes it to consumers. But emerging technology could help reduce waste and turn water systems into energy sources.
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Report trashes EU waste management results
EU member states may be falling short of waste management commitments according to data in a new report on management of municipal waste, highlighting stark differences across the union.
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Firms scramble to boost water-saving culture
From pet food manufacturing to wastewater treatment, companies show no lack of imagination when it comes to improving water efficiency at this year's annual Green Week event in Brussels.
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Was there an Earth Summit?
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) plays an important role in sketching out solutions, but at the moment other lobbyists and the big players in conventional energy have more influence, says Karlheinz Knickel.
