Plastic recycling firms accused of abusing market

The plastics recycling industry faces an investigation amid reports firms are illegally profiting from the market and in some cases polluting rivers.

The Environment Agency, the regulator, confirmed it had set up an investigative team and was pursuing "several lines of inquiry".It comes as councils cut back their plastics recycling services amid a fall in demand for exports to China. Importers are said to be worried about high contamination levels in UK waste. Britain sends about two-thirds of its plastic packaging waste abroad every year, including plastic bottles, yoghurt pots, and other items.

§  Exporters are illegally claiming for tens of thousands of tonnes of plastic waste which might not exist

§  Plastic waste is not being recycled and is being left to leak into rivers and oceans

§  UK firms accused of shipping contaminated waste - when non-recyclable items are mixed in with recyclables items - are being allowed to continue exporting.

Water pollution in Iraq threatens Mandaean religious rites 

BAGHDAD: Every Sunday in Iraq, along with a strip of the embankment on the Tigris River reserved for followers of the obscure and ancient Mandaean faith, worshippers bathe themselves in the waters to purify their souls. But unlike in ancient times, the storied river that runs through Baghdad is fouled by untreated sewage and dead carp, which float by in the fast-moving current. And water levels are falling, owing to the changing climate and damming in neighboring Turkey, Syria and Iran. About 70 percent of Iraq's water flows from upstream countries. 

Trump admits climate change not a 'hoax' 

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Sunday backed off from his claim that climate change is a hoax, but said that it's not man-made with permanent impacts and climate will "change back again". Trump accused scientists of having a "very big political agenda" and asserted that he does not want to put the US, the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, at a disadvantage in responding to climate change. 

Plea seeks the ban on loudspeakers 

Madurai: A public interest litigation has been filed before the Madurai bench of the Madras high court seeking a direction to the authorities to ban the use of loudspeakers in vans, autos, load vehicles in the run-up to the Ayudha Pooja celebrations in Manapparai town. The practice of loudspeakers blaring out of the vehicles in Manapparai town on Saraswathi Pooja/ Ayudha Pooja has been prevalent for the past 20 years. The general public in Manapparai is heavily affected by this noise pollution.

Two million children in DRC are acutely malnourished

UNICEF: Two million children in DRC are acutely malnourished. The UN children’s agency says at least two million children in the Democratic Republic of Congo face death from malnutrition unless aid reaches them.

Al Jazeera went to Kitwit where about 25,000 displaced people live with either host families or in camps without enough food to go around. Around 8,000 children in Kitwit show signs of malnutrition, but many more still live in remote conflict zones. Humanitarian budget cuts have made it difficult for aid workers to get to them.

Zimbabwe: Wheat Supply Remains Critical

Zimbabwe's wheat supplies remain critical due to logistical challenges arising from failure by the National Railway of Zimbabwe to speedily move the grain from Beira, Mozambique. Zimbabwe is faced with inconsistent supplies of bread as flour millers have cut on production due to wheat shortages. This has seen some unscrupulous retailers taking advantage of the situation by raising bread prices by as much as 50 percent

The Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe, the apex representative body of grain milling industry procured 30 000 tonnes of imported wheat to ameliorate the current bread shortages. In order to immediately stabilize the bread supply, NRZ committed to bring at least 50 wagons a day into Harare.

The reasons said by NRZ,

• The rail operator only service routes starting at Machipanda Border into different parts of Zimbabwe.
• NRZ only picks goods from Machipanda to anywhere in the country and delays from Beira are not our issue.
• This is an issue of effectiveness by the player who services the Beira to Machipanda route.
• Another factor to consider in the transportation of wheat from Beira is the volatile weather there. If it is moist, it becomes difficult to load because it will get spoilt.

The country needs at least 400 000 tonnes of wheat per year to meet its demand. On a monthly basis, wheat consumption is estimated at 38 000 tonnes for the production of bread, confectioneries, biscuits and other flour-related products.

Unscrupulous- not showing any moral values or not honest
Ameliorate- make something better

Experts blame perfume, hair gel for fuelling smog in Beijing

Beijing experts blame volatile organic compounds (VOC's) in hairspray, perfume and air fresheners in the city's air pollution problem, saying these compounds comprise 12% of PM2.5 in Beijing. VOC's are concentrated in aerosols like perfume, hair gel, insecticide and clearing agents as well as kitchen and gas stations. These VOCs do not directly produce PM2.5 but generate particle pollutants through a series of physical and chemical reactions.

A Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau report released in May said that life emissions account for 12 percent of the city's total emissions, which equal industrial emission sources. The ratio will decline in winter when coal burning increases and urban areas will see a higher concentration than the suburbs. Policies should be made to deal with indirect pollution sources since strict measures have already been taken on vehicles and coal burning which contribute to almost half of the total PM2.5 in Beijing.