Global News

March 03,2010 'Battle' on GM foods can't be won: EU official

SOFIA (AFP) - European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said on Wednesday he was against genetically-modified foods but said they were an unavoidable part of the future.

Asked by students in Sofia whether he was against GM foods, after the EU approved their cultivation, he said: "I am, generally speaking, against because we don't know what will be the long-term effect of it." For full story 

Feb. 2010

Strategic cooperation sets the scene for geological disposal of nuclear waste in Europe

While in the US the Obama administration has said it will abandon the nuclear waste disposal project at Yucca Mountain and has set up a "blue-ribbon" commission on America's future management of nuclear waste, in Europe, two countries (Sweden and Finland) have already selected a disposal site for nuclear waste and France will specify a location by 2013. In a number of other European countries (e.g. Switzerland and UK), geological disposal is the reference management option and things are moving forward to the site selection stage.
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Smart Centers Planned to Recycle Mountains of Toxic E-Waste

NUSA DUA, Bali, Indonesia, February 23, 2010 (ENS) - To safely manage the floods of obsolete electronics headed their way, developing countries need to establish e-waste management centers of excellence, the United Nations Environment Programme advises in a report released Monday.

Sales of electronic products in China and India and across Africa and Latin America are set to rise sharply in the next 10 years, according to UN experts in the report. Unless environmentally sound actions are taken to collect and recycle materials, many developing countries will face mountains of old computers, printers, mobile phones, pagers, digital photo and music devices, refrigerators, toys and televisions with serious consequences for the environment and public health.

Mountain of discarded electronics in Guiyu, China, one of the biggest e-waste centers of the world. (Photo by Bert van Dijk)    The magic of ISO certificates in the economy  The ISO14000 family addresses environmental management, and particularly refers to what an organisation does to minimise harmful effects on the environment caused by its activities, and to achieve continual improvement of its environmental performance. Together with the ISO9001:2000/2008 certification on quality assurance of goods and services in supplier-customer relations, the two have become thoroughly integrated with the world economy. By December 2008, 144,572 ISO14001:2004 certificates had been issued in 148 economies worldwide. The ISO14001:2004 certification confirms its global relevance for organisations wishing to operate in an environmentally sustainable manner. Some of its positive roles in globalisation are a tool for major new economic players to increase their participation in global supply chains; a tool for regional integration; and increased service provision in the global economy. For full story

Electronics contain up to 60 different elements, many valuable, some hazardous, and some both. The report advises that if centers of recycling excellence are set up, obsolete electronics that contain valuable metals such as silver, gold, palladium, copper and indium can be harvested while creating recycling jobs.
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