UK's plastic waste may be dumped overseas instead of recycled

Millions of tons of plastic sent abroad for recycling may be being dumped in landfill

Millions of tons of waste plastic from British businesses and homes may be ending up in landfill sites across the world, the government’s spending watchdog has warned.

Huge amounts of packaging waste is being sent overseas on the basis that it will be recycled and turned into new products. However, concerns have been raised that in reality much of it is being dumped in sites from Turkey to Malaysia.

Every year, British households throw 22m tons of waste into the bin. Recycling rates have stagnated at about 44% and the UK is unlikely to hit its target of 50% by 2020.

Britain does not have the requisite infrastructure to recycle its own plastic waste, so it is sent abroad.

Packaging recycling obligations require more than 7,000 firms responsible for generating waste to demonstrate that a certain amount has been recycled.

But a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) criticised the Environment Agency’s oversight of the scheme in England.

It also said Michael Gove’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had not done enough to assess the wider effectiveness of the system and “has not been sufficiently proactive” in managing the risks associated with the rise in exports of waste.

Under the scheme, firms with recycling obligations contributed £73m in 2017 to the cost of dealing with their waste by paying for “recovery evidence notes” from reprocessing plants or exporters.

Since 2002, the amount of waste sent overseas to countries including China, Turkey, Malaysia and Poland has increased sixfold – accounting for half of the packaging reported as recycled last year.

But the NAO said: “We are concerned that the agency does not have strong enough controls to prevent the system subsidising exports of contaminated or poor-quality material.”

There was a risk that some material was not recycled to UK standards “and is instead sent to landfill or contributes to pollution”.

The NAO said 11m tons of packaging was used by UK households and businesses, and noted that 64% of packaging waste was reported as recycled, in 2017.

The watchdog acknowledged that “while there are questions about the exact scale of packaging recycling”, rates had increased since the system was introduced in 1997.But it added: “The system appears to have evolved into a comfortable way for government to meet targets without facing up to the underlying recycling issues. The government has no evidence that the system has encouraged companies to minimise packaging or make it easy to recycle.

“And it relies on exporting materials to other parts of the world without adequate checks to ensure this material is actually recycled, and without consideration of whether other countries will continue to accept it in the long term.”

The head of the NAO, Sir Amyas Morse, said: “If the UK wants to play its part in fully tackling the impacts of waste and pollution, a tighter grip on packaging recycling is needed.”

He added: “The government should have a much better understanding of the difference this system makes and a better handle on the risks associated with so much packaging waste being recycled overseas.”

Historically, British recycling has been sent to China. Its dominance in manufacturing meant that for years it was the world’s largest importer of recyclable materials. In 2016, it imported 7.3m tons of waste plastics from developed countries including the UK, the US and Japan.

British companies alone have shipped more than 2.7m tons of plastic waste to China and Hong Kong since 2012 – two-thirds of the UK’s total waste plastic exports, according to data from Greenpeace released last year.

But last summer the Chinese government announced it intended to stop the importation of 24 kinds of solid waste by the end of the year, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET) drinks bottles, other plastic bottles and containers, and all mixed paper, in a campaign against yang laji or “foreign garbage”. These drastic restrictions resulted in traders looking for other countries to take in recycling waste.

A Defra spokesman said: “Since the current packaging producer responsibility regime was introduced, recycling rates have increased significantly. However, there is much more to do. We don’t recycle enough waste, and we export too much of it.

“That’s why we have already committed to overhaul the system, and we will set out our reforms in the resources and waste strategy later this year."

Nazia Parveen, The Guardian, 23 July 2018 

Health & wellbeing. Seven ways to improve your balance

Lack of balance is associated with elderly people, but deterioration can start in your 20s. Here’s how to avoid the wobbles

Work on it, for the sake of your social life

Ageing often leads to a loss of balance, which can result in an increased risk of falls. But, as a report from the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago shows, a lack of balance has other consequences. “A tendency to lose balance among elderly people often results in an overall reduction in the level of physical activity,” it says, “and to a decreased ability to function satisfactorily in social roles.”

Eliminate medical issues

Ear infections, vertigo and medications, including some antidepressants, antihistamines and pain relief, can cause problems with your “vestibular function” – the system in your inner ear that aids balance and spatial orientation. You should always see a doctor if you experience any sudden, unusual or severe problems with your balance. Hearing Link has a list of the most common causes.

Strength training

Balance can start to deteriorate in your mid-20s. However, strength training can help, whatever your age. A 2013 study that examined the effects of strengthening exercises on balance concluded: “Improvement in lower limb strength may lead to balance enhancement in neurologically intact older peeople.”

Be a flamingo

Simple balance and proprioception exercises can be done at home without the need for equipment. Try alternate balancing on one leg (bending the standing leg slightly at the knee will help if you are wobbly, as will focusing on a stationary point in front of you). Closing your eyes makes it much harder. Most people are “better” on one leg than the other – single leg exercises can help to strengthen the weaker side.

Step-ups

Using a single step or stair, step up with your right leg in a slow and controlled manner, then bring your left leg up to join it. Step down and repeat, alternating leading legs. To make it more difficult, find a higher step or use a box in the gym. This simple exercise helps to build hip stability, as well as strengthening knees.

Sit down

Sitting on a stability ball challenges your core and balance. Start with your arms by your sides and your feet on the floor, then lift and extend your right leg while raising your left arm to shoulder height. Return to a sitting position, then do the same on the other side. Repeat 10 times. Note, though, that a study at the University of Waterloo in Canada concluded there is no benefit to sitting on a ball all day instead of an office chair.

Bodyweight exercises

Exercises such as lunges and squats will help to make you stronger, increase your range of motion and challenge your balance. Good form is important to maximise benefits. For a squat, stand with feet facing forward, hip distance apart. Making sure not to arch your back, hinge at the hips and push them back – imagine there is a chair behind you that you are about to sit on. Keep your abs engaged and don’t go too low if it causes your back to arch. Hold for a couple of seconds, then drive up through your heels, back to standing.

The Guardian, 17 July 2018

Thai cave rescue: Navy Seals say mission came 'close to disaster'

Fools or heroes?

Rescuers who freed Wild Boars team from Tham Luang cave tell of dangers that included heavy rain and low oxygen

The 12 boys whose rescue from a cave in northern Thailand this week captivated the world, have had a tearful reunion with their parents as it was revealed just how close the mission came to disaster.

Footage released by Thai authorities on Wednesday evening showed the 12 children and Ekkapol Chantawong, the 25-year-old football coach trapped with them, in hospital beds wearing surgical masks, clasping their palms in gratitude to the camera.

Another clip showed the boys’ parents watching them from behind a window, waving and wiping away tears of joy and relief.

The reunions, experienced at a distance or through glass because the boys must be cleared of potential infections, were broadcast as part of a nationally televised press conference about the rescue of the members of the Wild Boars football club.

Authorities gave further details of the 17-day operation to free the boys from the Tham Luang cave in the Doi Nang Non mountain range, framing it as a battle against the elements.

When the boys’ bikes were first discovered outside the cave, rescuers initially thought the mission to find the children would be straightforward. They learned otherwise a few days into the search when heavy rain filled the cave faster then expected, forcing even navy personnel to retreat.

“We fought and were defeated, losing space to the water,” said Narongsak Osatanakorn, head of the joint command centre coordinating the operation.

Navy Seals began deep forays into the cave but were hindered by the muddy conditions, narrow paths and high water levels. “The cave was unlike anything we had ever experienced, it was so dark,” said Apakorn Youkongkaew, a rear admiral in the Thai navy.

So challenging were the conditions that, for 23 hours, the Seals lost contact with two teams they sent into the cave, he said.

A week into the search their efforts to pump rain water out of the cave were proving fruitless. They called for heavier-duty equipment and a contingent of expert cave divers from the UK, Australia, China, US and Europe. 

John Volanthen, a Briton, found the boys on 2 July. They were huddled on a muddy slope nearly two miles inside the cave.

Youkongkaew paid tribute to the bravery and resilience of the children, who endured 10 days of starvation in near-total darkness, never knowing if help was coming. “Weren’t our kids amazing?” he said.

The next challenge was getting the group out. As authorities started pumping water from the cave at industrial levels – they would eventually remove an estimated 10bn cubic metres – a second hurdle emerged. Oxygen levels in the cave were falling to toxic levels, limiting the time available to free the group to less than a month, said Youkongkaew.

Fear of the boys falling into a coma from oxygen deprivation forced the authorities to go ahead with the evacuation. “Another factor was that water was coming,” Osatanakorn said. “The rain in the north is massive, unlike other region. The kids wouldn’t have any place to stay. They had only space of five metres by five metres. It would be gradually reduced.”

The 12 boys wore full-face scuba masks and were attached to divers as they traversed the underwater parts of the journey. They were transferred to stretchers and wrapped in blankets whenever they got to patches of dry ground. Their vital signs were monitored at several points throughout the journey.

The navy Seal chief appeared to confirm reports that the boys had been sedated for the journey, telling the press briefing: “Along the way some may have slept.”

Wang Yingjie, leader of the Chinese contingent of the rescue team, said on Wednesday that he was unsure, as they began the rescue, whether their efforts would succeed. “But we had no choice,” he said at a celebratory lunch in Mae Sai. “When I saw the first kid [emerge] I felt we successfully finished one step. We were happy. Then, when I saw the second kid, I thought our plan was working.”

He said the foreign divers had cooperated seamlessly. “Language wasn’t a barrier and we found that language used in technical terms, like diving and rope system, was universal,” he said.

Yingjie and his team apologised for wearing slippers to the formal event; he said their feet had been macerated by the dozens of hours they had spent submerged in muddy water in recent days.

Australian divers involved in the rescue told the Guardian on Wednesday that they had been moments away from disaster. Hours after the last Wild Boar was freed the main pump in the cave failed, and water levels started inching upwards, the divers said.

One said he heard screaming from deeper inside the cave. “All these headlights start coming over the hill and the water was coming,” he said. “It was noticeably rising.”

The remaining 100 workers inside the cave were frantically rushing to the exit and were safely out less than an hour later.

Osatanakorn, who has become a national hero following the successful rescue, called the boys “a symbol of unity among mankind”. He added: “Everyone worked together, regardless of race and religion, as the goal was the rescue of the youth football team and returning them home safely.”

He said the children should not be blamed for getting trapped and that they could appear before the media once their health improved, if doctors and parents gave the go-ahead.

The rescue chief’s stern demeanour of the past weeks had dissolved by Wednesday evening. At points during the briefing, he chuckled and fidgeted. He told the Guardian he wanted to act as himself in a movie of the rescue. Outside, he was mobbed by volunteers. When asked for a selfie photo, he replied: “Why not? The boys are out.”

The Guardian

Michael Safi and Veena Thoopkrajae in Mae Sai, The Guardian 12 July 2018

Our recommendation for this summer reading: The English Patient

Interview

‘It's the book that gave me freedom’: Michael Ondaatje on The English Patient

The novel has been translated into 38 languages and the film scooped nine Oscars. Now, as The English Patient wins the Golden Booker prize – voted readers’ favourite in 50 years – the author reveals why he could never have been a writer if he’d stayed in Britain

n Sunday night, Michael Ondaatje stepped on to the wide stage of the Royal Festival Hall in London. He found a lectern and, white head bowed, reached into his pocket for a small piece of paper. “It began with a small night conversation between a burned patient and a nurse,” he said. “I did not know at first where it was taking place, or who the two characters were. I thought it might be a brief novella – all dialogue, European-style, big type.”

The audience laughed. Because what actually turned up, of course, was The English Patient: 300-plus pages about four people inhabiting the mined rooms of a remote Italian villa at the end of the second world war; four very different people who meet in damaged solitude, who talk (there are a lot of night conversations), who love, whose histories, revealed in vivid flashes, become a taut, outraged meditation on the idea of war, of nationalism and of prejudice; a meditation that slips between spies and explorers, Suffolk and the Egyptian desert; the Punjab and Women’s College Hospital, Toronto, as easily as the sapper, Kip, slips into bomb craters to defuse bombs.

The English Patient shared the Booker prize with Barry Unsworth’s Sacred Hunger in 1992, has been translated into 38 languages, and in 1996 became an Anthony Minghella-directed film winning nine Academy awards, and grossing $231m worldwide to date. By Sunday night it had been shortlisted for the Golden Man Booker 50: the best Booker winners of the last 50 years, arrived at by decade. Ondaatje’s competition was VS Naipaul, for In a Free State (1970s), Penelope Lively’s Moon Tiger (80s), Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall(2000s), and George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo (10s). And, after a public vote, The English Patient won.

Upstairs, in a room with long views of a Thames blurry with heat, Ondaatje accepts congratulations and a glass of “white wine, please. My first in months.” He has one of the most recognisable faces in literature: pale eyes sharp in a wide, tanned face, a halo of white hair and beard. He is gracious, quick and thoughtful, but also well-defended, steely and distracted; aware of friends waiting to celebrate with him downstairs, he talks faster and faster, and eventually simply stops.

What an extraordinary afterlife the book has had. “Well, it already had a second afterlife with the film, right? And that was a bolt of lightning that I wasn’t expecting. And then this – suddenly redoing the whole thing again. Another horse race, you know?” He laughs. Though both were a fillip, really, on what the first prize gave him, which was the most precious thing: “Freedom. I had been teaching for many, many years up to that point.” Teaching full-time, in fact, and “trying to write a complicated novel”, and that had become too much to manage. “I thought I was going to lose it – and I had quit my job. I just needed to finish the book. It was a bet.” Which could not have come off more handsomely.

, in her speech earlier in the evening, had mused about how different a person she was, at 85, from the one who in her mid-50s had written Moon Tiger. What did Ondaatje think of the self who wrote The English Patient (which he has not reread since it was published)? “Well, I still like him.” More interesting, he thinks, is the way in which each book he’s written is like “a time capsule”.

When he was writing The English Patient, between about 1985 and 1992, there was an argument going on in Canada about nationalism and integration. “They didn’t want Sikhs to wear turbans if they were policemen and stuff like that. That was in the air.” The striking thing is how contemporary his concerns – how to release oneself from the imposition of nationalism; how to rediscover one’s essential individuality or true, often artistic allegiances – now feel. Contemporary, and somehow, in a harsher time, impossibly idealistic.

Penelope Lively, in her speech earlier in the evening, had mused about how different a person she was, at 85, from the one who in her mid-50s had written Moon Tiger. What did Ondaatje think of the self who wrote The English Patient (which he has not reread since it was published)? “Well, I still like him.” More interesting, he thinks, is the way in which each book he’s written is like “a time capsule”.

When he was writing The English Patient, between about 1985 and 1992, there was an argument going on in Canada about nationalism and integration. “They didn’t want Sikhs to wear turbans if they were policemen and stuff like that. That was in the air.” The striking thing is how contemporary his concerns – how to release oneself from the imposition of nationalism; how to rediscover one’s essential individuality or true, often artistic allegiances – now feel. Contemporary, and somehow, in a harsher time, impossibly idealistic.

Continue reading here: The English Patient_The Guardian

Millions of Spanish wine bottles sold off as French rosé

Up to 4.6m bottles of Spanish rosé wine have been labelled as French and sold in French cafes, hotels and restaurants, officials say.

The findings come from France's anti-fraud directorate after a two-year inquiry into producers, importers, traders and distributors.

While most wines were correctly labelled, up to 3.45m litres of Spanish wine was disguised as French, the reports says (in French).

Labels were either deceptive or false.

The most common offences involved obscuring the true origin of the wine or sticking a French symbol such as a tricolour on the bottle with labels such as "Produced in France" or "Bottled in France".

Other transgressions involved hiding the true origin on bag-in-box wine on the underside of the packaging or even beneath the handle.

The revelations are inflammatory, especially for wine-producing areas of southern France that have battled cheap imported wine from Spain.

Responding to reports that the amount of wine involved was as much as 7m litres, the head of the young wine-producers organisation in the Hérault region, Remi Dumas, said: "For those who wonder why we demonstrate, for all the wine-producers who aren't bothered by our calls for protest! Consumers open your eyes! 10m bottles of fake rosé from Spain."

"Rosé-lovers beware," warned Le Parisien newspaper on Monday. "You're in danger of a nasty surprise at happy hour."

Le Parisien quoted one senior official as saying that as much as 7m litres of wine had been "Frenchified".

"We've identified fraud at four trader-producers," Alexandre Chevallier of the General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) told the newspaper.

The government body behind the report says anyone found guilty of such fraud could face two years in jail.

Earlier this year the French anti-fraud body revealed that as many as 66.5m bottles of wine had been passed off as superior Côtes du Rhône from 2013 to 2016, in a scam that affected UK drinkers as well as French.

9 July 2018, BBC News

Maybe it means that apart from being a fraud, our wine is as good as the best French rose-wine!

Other or another?

Read this interesting webpage where you can see clearly when to use 'other' or 'another'. I'm sure it'd be useful to refresh your grammar about this particular point.



Quick Summary: What is the difference between another and other?

A simple rule to help you remember the difference between another and other is:

another + singular noun
other + plural noun
others (a pronoun to replace other + plural noun)

• I need another cup. (cup is singular so we use another)
• I need other cups. (cup is plural so we use other)
• I need others. (refers to other cups)

When to use ANOTHER

Another means:

• one more, an additional, an extra
• a different one; an alternative one

Another is a determiner (and a qualifier) that goes before a singular countable noun or a pronoun.

Another + Singular Countable noun

Another can be followed by a singular countable noun.

• He has bought another motorbike.
• Would you like another cup of coffee?
• Don’t worry about the rain. We can go another day.
• I think you should paint it another color.
• We are having another baby.

Another + One

Another can be placed before “one” when the meaning is clear from the text before it.

• I have already eaten two sandwiches though now I want another one. (= an additional sandwich)
• A: You can borrow more of these books if you like. B: Ok, I’ll take another one. (= another book, one more book)

Another as a pronoun

Sometimes another is used as a pronoun.

• That piece of cake was tasty. I think I’ll have another. (another = one more piece of cake)
• I don’t like this room. Let’s ask for another. (another = another room)

Note: you can also say: “I think I’ll have another one.” and “Let’s ask for another one.”

Another + number + plural noun

Another can be used before a plural noun when there is a number before that noun or before phrases such as a couple of, a few etc.

• In another 20 years my laptop is going to be obsolete.
• I like this city so much that I’m going to spend another three days here.
• We need another three teachers before classes begin.
• He was given another couple of months to finish the sculpture.

When to use OTHER

Other is a determiner that goes before plural countable nouns, uncountable nouns or a pronoun.

Other + Plural Countable Noun

Other can be followed by a plural countable noun.

• We have other styles if you are interested.
• Have you got any other dresses, or are these the only ones?
• Some days are sunny though other days can be very rainy.
• I have invited some other people.
• I can’t help you because I’m busy with other things.

Other + Ones

Other can be placed before the pronoun “ones” when the meaning is clear from the text before it.

• We don’t need those books, we need other ones. (= different books)
• A: You can borrow my books if you like. B: Thanks, but I need other ones. (= other books)

Note: you can say other one when it refers to wanting the alternative.

• I don't want this one, I want the other one.

Others as a pronoun

Others replaces “other ones” or "other + plural noun".
Only others can be used as a pronoun and not other.

• I don’t like these postcards. Let’s ask for others. (others = other postcards)
• Some of the presidents arrived on Monday. Others arrived the following day.

Others - the others

Often “(the) others” refers to “(the) other people”.

• He has no interest in helping others. (= in helping other people)
• What are the others doing tonight?

What is the difference between other and others?

Other is followed by a noun or a pronoun
Others is a pronoun and is NOT followed by a noun.

• These shoes are too small. Do you have any other shoes?
• These shoes are too small. Do you have any others? (no noun after others)
• 
  

Click here to see the whole page and do more practice: other or another

'He died a hero': Canadian man mauled by polar bear while protecting his family

Father said to have put himself between the bear and his three children after the animal charged one at a fishing and hunting spot

A father in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut is being hailed as a hero after he died protecting his three young children from a polar bear attack.

Aaron Gibbons, 31, was at a popular fishing and hunting spot near the hamlet of Arviat, on the western shores of Hudson Bay, on Tuesday when the bear appeared, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Gibbons was unarmed at the time of the attack.

He was on a small island enjoying a day out with his children, Gordy Kidlapik, Gibbons’ uncle, told the Winnipeg Free Press.

“The bear started to stalk or charge one of his children,” he said. “He told his children to run back to the boat and put himself between his children and the bear.”

His school-age children made it safely to the boat and called for help on the CB radio. Kidlapik was among those who heard the call, describing it as“heartbreaking”.

Police said Gibbons was pronounced dead at the scene. “He died a hero,” said Kidlapik.

The bear was shot and killed by other adults who were nearby.

The attack left Arviat, a small hamlet that is home to some 2,600 people, reeling. “It’s just really incredibly sad,” a local lawmaker, John Main, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). “We’re a small community and when something like this happens, it affects the whole community.”

Attacks by polar bears are rare; the last polar bear mauling in the region is believed to have happened 18 years ago in Rankin Inlet, about 200km north of Arviat.

Nunavut’s department of environment said conservation officers were investigating the circumstances of the attack to determine whether factors such as the bear’s age or health played a role in the attack.

Arviat is located within the range of the Western Hudson Bay polar bear population, which numbers around 840 bears, according to 2016 estimates.

In recent years, local hunters and elders in the community have reported a spike in sightings of polar bears around the community and noted that they seem to be less afraid of humans.

The World Wildlife Fund, which in 2010 partnered with Arviat to launch a program to monitor the perimeter of the community from September to December, has linked the increase to climate change.

Sea ice is taking longer to form each autumn, meaning bears are spending more time on the coastline, Paul Crowley, director of the organisation’s arctic program, told the CBC in 2016. “It’s partially because the climate is changing and partly because of attractants in the communities like the dumps.”

On Wednesday, Kidlapik, Gibbons’ uncle, floated his own theory, pointing to polar bear tours based in Churchill, Manitoba – about 250km south of Arviat – for acclimatising the bears to the presence of humans.

“You’ll see pictures of tourists touching a bear through the fence,” he said, while other outfitters offered walking tours near the bears.

The bears then migrated from Manitoba, where the tours are based, towards northern communities like Arviat, he said.

He speculated that the tours could be a factor in explaining the bears’ shifting behaviour, noting that 10 or 15 years ago, they would flee at the sound of an all-terrain vehicle or snowmobile.

“Today, bears are not doing that. They hang around. They won’t run away. They’ll go on the trail beside you,” he said. “Bears are losing whatever fear they have of humans.”

When asked about any potential link between polar bear tours and the attack, Nunavut’s department of environment declined to comment.

Ashifa Kassam in Toronto, The Guardian, 5 July 2018