CleanSounds is an artist-movement honouring what it calls ‘everyday heroes in the fight against plastic pollution’.
Music artists that sign up to the movement perform secret, intimate, pop-up mini-concerts for volunteers that have participated in a clean-up event.
The movement is independent, non-political and non-commercial, it says.
“We honour true engagement through concrete actions,” CleanSounds says. “No matter where or who is behind the clean-up events. Or whether it has taken place on a beach, by diving in the oceans or land-based clean-ups.
“What our oceans desperately needs is more action. More people joining the fight against plastic pollution.”
Clean Sounds originated in 2018 when Norwegian band Madcon surprised a group of volunteers picking plastic from the fjords with an intimate performance. The initiative has since expanded globally.
Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I eliminates all plastic rings
Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I has announced that its portfolio of beers is now plastic-ring free – eliminating 250 tonnes of plastic every year across its full canned beer range, including Budweiser, Bud Light and Stella Artois.
In total, combined with decreasing its usage of plastic shrink wrap, the brewer has removed 850 tonnes of plastic waste, the equivalent weight of 67 double decker buses, from its supply chains, it says.
Budweiser Brewing Group first announced this ambition in September 2019. It invested £6.3 million into the packaging infrastructure at its breweries in South Wales and Lancashire, and in just 13 months, has reached today’s milestone.
The sites, which together produce more than 4,000 cans per minute, upgraded three canning lines.
Now, the sites are fully equipped to produce alternatives to plastic rings, including fully recyclable wraps and Keel Clip™, a new technology which uses recyclable paperboard to create a lighter weight pack.
Driving circular packaging is a key aspect of the brewer’s ambitious 2025 Sustainability Goals.
Too Good To Go becomes official partner of Circular Yorkshire Month
Too Good To Go, the food app, has announced that it has joined Circular Yorkshire Month as an official partner.
Circular Yorkshire Month aims to bring together partners from across Yorkshire to accelerate the region’s transformation towards a circular economy.
As an official partner, Too Good To Go will be presented to all food businesses in Yorkshire as a key solution to reducing food waste and associated waste costs. Co-founder, Jamie Crummie will also be a guest speaker at the annual York & North Yorkshire LEP Conference on 6 November 2020 to talk about the steps food businesses can take towards a greener future.
As part of their partnership, Too Good To Go recently took part in a webinar hosted by the University of York in partnership with Circular Yorkshire. Attended by almost 100 people, the webinar’s success shows that fighting food waste is of real interest in the post COVID world. A recording of the webinar and the presentation shared with businesses can be viewed here.
The Too Good To Go app lets people rescue surplus food from restaurants, retailers and producers to stop it from going to waste. Users simply download the free app and search for nearby businesses with unsold food, they then purchase a ‘Magic Bag’ of food, collect it at an allotted time and enjoy it.
Former police officer fined for dumping and burning illegal waste
A former police officer has been ordered to pay £3,740 after admitting three charges relating to illegally depositing waste on her land at Swiss Valley, Felinfoel, Llanelli following an investigation by Natural Resources Wales (NRW).
At Llanelli Magistrates Court, Samantha Prynne admitted two charges of permitting the deposit of controlled waste on the site without an environmental permit and allowing the incineration of controlled waste on the site. She was fined a total of £1,800 and ordered to pay £1,500 costs and £170 victim surcharge.
Jonathan Jones, Environment Team Leader for NRW, said: “Waste crime is not only dangerous to the environment, it also poses a risk to local communities, as well as undermining legitimate waste businesses.”
“That’s why activities such as these need environmental permits which set out the rules that have to be followed so they do not pose a risk to the environment and local people.
“When those rules are ignored, whether for commercial gain or due to poor management, we will always take the appropriate steps to protect our natural resources and the communities which we serve.
“We would also like to thank the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service and Dyfed Powys Police for their assistance with this case.”
New CEO for Turmec
Recycling solutions provider Turmec has announced the appointment of Geoff Bailey as its new CEO.
Geoff joins Turmec following a 20-year career in the recycling and waste services industry in Ireland and the United Kingdom, working initially at Greenstar, the Irish waste management business, and latterly at Impact Recycling, a technology company involved in developing specialist techniques for difficult-to-separate plastics.
Exporting globally from its headquarters in the Irish-speaking Gaeltacht area of County Meath, Turmec specialises in the end-to-end design and build of complex waste separation and processing systems which are critical to large, efficient waste processing and recycling operations.
The business operates in Ireland, the UK and Australia and is ‘growing its position in other new export markets’, it says.
Geoff takes over as Turmec CEO from Brian Thornton who made an important contribution to progressing Turmec’s business in recent years.
