How Much CO2 is in Your Breakfast Cereal This Morning?

According to New Scientist (13th September 2008), a bowl of cereal has the same carbon footprint as a 7km journey in a 4x4. According to reporter Bijal Trivedi, our shopping baskets are spewing greenhouse gases, but it's easy to cut out the culprits.

333g of CO2eq is emitted to make one hard-boiled egg. Compared with a bowl of cereal with milk at 1224 grams.

There's lots of other exciting reads in the feature article, for more information, you can check the New Scientist website.


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Delivered Milk is Cleaner, Greener and Easier to Swallow

Since the early 90's, milkmen have struggled to remain competitive in the market against the convenience of 24/7 supermarkets with loss leading pricing tactics. This has inevitably saw a decline in the number of milkmen in the UK by over 10 000 in the last ten years, as more people turn to the supermarkets and existing clients (as they were often elderly) pass away. It's a tough life for milkmen rising as early as 2am, to go to the dairy to load their floats with the milk for the day. A job they love, but under the pressure from the supermarkets, one which pays a standard wage. Self-employed, to make a living they need to sell at least 500 gallons a week, they have little time off, even during bereavement and illness.

But as people try to green their lives some are turning back to the milkman as a way of receiving their milk fresh and green daily (or we hope).

The latest figures from WRAP, the Waste and Resources Action Programme, suggest that the UK milk industry is responsible for 130,000 tonnes of plastic waste, every year. To put that into perspective this is the more than the amount of plastic that is required for the total annual use of plastic bags in the UK.

Or ... 19 066 667 600 bags ... to be precise is the milk industry equivalent.

Plastic is a funny substance and can't really be recycled more than once, so there are limitations as to the amount of times it can be reused, and even more limitations on the types of products that they can replace, not to mention the way in which the plastic is collected, sorted and recycled. It takes 1.75 kilograms of petroleum (in terms of energy and raw materials) to make one kilogram of HDPE.

Or ... 228 229 285 litres of petroleum ... enough to power a Peugeot 107 for 3.08 billion miles.

Milkmen use cute clinky glass bottles (not all, best to ask first, avoid shock later), these can be reused twenty times before they need to be recycled. They also are virtually infinitely recyclable, although quality tends to degrade after the seventh time. The added advantage is the milkman collects the empty bottles on his next delivery, this allows the bottles to be effectively removed from all waste streams.

Most milkmen in the UK travel on clean green electric milk floats which emit no CO2 emissions other than those from electricity generation, and the milk floats are exceptionally efficient in terms of energy used, compared to petrol or diesel vehicles. One manufacture of these vehicles is Smith, who have diversified into other electric powered commercial vehicles.

We know know the packaging is greener and the distribution, but what about production, either way it is the same, but should we be consuming diary products at all? They are after-all renowned for the carbon intensive farming. The carbon footprint of 1 pint of milk is 596g of CO2.

1.05g of CO2 / 1ml of Milk

Now comes the real choice in what you consume and how it can affect your carbon footprint, organic milk uses three times less energy to produce because it doesn't require energy-intensive fertiliser. This should in effect reduce CO2 emissions by 55%, assuming 83% of CO2 is from production.

0.47g of CO2 / 1ml of Organic Milk (estimated)

So if you don't have a milkman already, it might be an idea to find one, I went in search, if you live in Northern Ireland, you can contact your local dairy, or visit Dale Farm. For the rest of the UK, you can try Find Me a Milkman or Deliver Milk.

Whilst delivered milk is slightly more expensive, this added cost also means you will likely never run out of milk, it's fresh, it's delivered and when saying I'm just going to the supermarket for milk, you categorically spend twenty times that of what you intended to buy in the first place, half an hour in the store and another 15 minutes driving there and parking in the packed out supermarket, and it doesn't come in a cute clinky glass bottle.

If you have a milkman I'd love to hear your comments and the price you pay for a pint of milk to debunk the ideas that milkmen charge exorbitant prices! I have faith.


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Green Washing: Tesco and Local Produce

Tesco billboard advertisement for locally sourced Aberdeen Angus beef. But really how does the meat from the farm next door to you get to Tesco's on the other side of you? It's not as simple as A to B.

"With meat in the UK, there is also a supermarket issue. Each of the supermarkets runs its own abattoir, so if you sell your lamb to Tesco, you have to send your lamb to Tesco's abattoir, even if you pass several local abattoirs on the way. As a result, the meat picks up a huge amount of 'in-Britain' food miles from farm to abattoir then to packaging before it gets to its final destination."
Prof Gareth Edwards-Jones, Department of Agriculture, Bangor University
Quoted in Telegraph, 03 June 2007

Which Came First, the Chicken or the Power Plant?

It may be surprising to know that chicken waste is reused as a source of fuel to generate electricity, with over 75% of chicken litter from major poultry farms in the United Kingdom being reused in this method.

Northern Ireland often exports its chicken litter to mainland Britain as a way to efficiently reduce waste and reuse the energy stored in the bedding as no facility exisits in the country. The 1.8m chickens produced each week, create 250 000t of chicken litter annually. Hence this weeks decision by major chicken producers O'Kane Poultry, Glenfarm Holdings and Moy Park, who have been supplying poultry bedding for use as a biofuel to power stations in England and Scotland for a number of years, to join together as a consortium, known as Rose Energy, to propose the first energy plant which will convert agricultural biomass into electricity in Northern Ireland.

As well as poultry litter, meat an bone meal, commonly known as MBM will also be used as a fuel source. Both of which are inert, non-toxic substances.

The proposed site in Glenavy, near Lisburn, is in an ideal location between the two major poultry processing areas in NI. It is also located next to Ulster Farm By-Products, which will be a major supplier to the plant of one of the fuel sources – meat and bone meal. Furthermore, the plant will serve to reinforce the electricity infrastructure in an area which is currently deficient.

The £100m power plant will have a capacity of 30MW, and could effectively power 25 000 homes, assisting up to a third of the Northern Ireland obligation to source 6.3% of its energy from renewable sources by 2012. The government intends to exceed this figure and achieve 12% and is providing a funding package for suitable green energy initiatives to help develop viable projects.

This development is a viable solution to address the disposal of agricultural biomass, which is now included under an EU directive, whilst also providing an additional source of renewable energy. It will also assist in reducing emissions produced from exporting chicken litter, via road and sea,to mainland Britain.

"This is an exciting project for Northern Ireland, using proven technology to deliver huge benefits to the province on two key fronts - improving the environment and generating renewable energy. The plant will provide an opportunity to use two valuable biomass fuel sources locally, which have for several years been used as fuel for similar plants in GB. Rose Energy represents a huge financial commitment, the majority of which is being privately funded. The relevant government departments are aware of our proposals and have indicated their support in principle. We are working closely with them to secure the remaining funding required to realise this project."
Mike Alcorn, Director, Rose Energy

Depending on the success of their planning application, the new facility should be operational by 2010.

NB: Generic Picture

Are Kangaroos the Solution to Cow Farts?

In breaking news from Australia today (no pun intended), scientist are working on a viable solution to the methane emissions from cows and sheep. In recent years cows have be one of those blamed for Global Warming. And in 1989 a New Scientist article accused cows of being responsible for 100m tonnes of methane released into the atmostphere annually. Methane like carbon dioxide, traps infrared radiation that would otherwise escape into space. Indeed, molecule for molecule, it traps 25 times as much of the Sun's heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Hence the concern about the methane in the farts of cattle, whose world population has doubled in the past 40 years. There is roughly one head of cattle for every four human beings.

"Fourteen percent of emissions from all sources in Australia is from enteric methane from cattle and sheep, and if you look at another country such as New Zealand, which has got a much higher agricultural base, they're actually up around 50 percent"
Athol Klieve, Senior Research Scientist, Queensland State Government

Kangaroo flatulence contains no methane, thanks to special bacteria in their stomachs, and scientists want to transfer that bacteria to cattle and sheep who emit large quantities of the harmful gas. In addition to the environmental benefits, if successful the scientists believe that the new efficient digestive system would reduce the food intake of the livestock. Reducing feed costs for farmers.

Scientist believe it will take at least three years to isolate the bacteria that gives kangaroos green farts, whilst others believe we should simply move to eating more kangaroos. It might take a while for kangaroos to become popular barbecue fare, but with concern over global warming growing in the world's driest inhabited continent, Australians could soon be ready to try almost anything to cut emissions.

What's in Season from Your Local Farmer?

Buying locally is often difficult at the best of the times, but knowing what is in season and buying accordingly is one way to find what you are looking for, you don't have to comprimise too much as a wide variety of foods are available all year around.

| All | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |

To find details of your nearest farmers markets (England, Scotland & Wales), or in Northern Ireland at the Ulster Farmers Union website.

Life Style Green Show

Opening my electricity bill this morning I was greeted with a voucher for the LifeStyleGreen Show to be held at the Kings Hall in Belfast from Saturday 15th September to Sunday 16th September. LifeStyleGreen, is a not-for-profit green living magazine established in June 2004, based in Ireland. Published quarterly, they target the consumer and all businesses who service green living, harnessing this collective power to further the campaign.

LifeStyleGreen Show is the first dedicated green lifestyle show in Ireland and will showcase some of the best local and international green companies. The Show will be sub-divided into defined sections to cover all aspects of a greener lifestyle from organic food to ethical fashion; from green business to transport with about 100 stalls in total. One confirmed sponsor Northern Ireland Electricity has over 10000 energy saving bulbs to giveaway at the "Your Energy" section. This could prevent 1 900 tonnes of CO2 over the bulbs life time.

A downloadable "2 for 1" ticket is available on their website. Further information on the event will be released early next month. Businesses interested at attending the event can book stalls by downloading an application form.

LifeStyleGreen, Kings Hall, Belfast
Saturday 15th - Sunday 16th September 2007, 10am - 6pm
Entry Fee: £5 (Adults), Free (Children Under 16)

Lush Protest Packaging in the Nude

Leading international high street retailer Lush have gone onto the streets in the UK stripping off to protest against unnecessary packaging of products, the UK nude protest is part of the stores worldwide campaign in 55 cities. Staff from Lush stores around the UK wore only a white apron with the words "Ask Me Why I'm Naked" emblazoned across their fronts covering their most intimate parts.

Lush is one of the few companies that have extensive environmental merits far beyond its competitors. The majority of their products come unpackaged, those that do are minimal and only used if absolutely necessary. All their ingredients are 100% natural and sourced in the country they are produced. Their products are never tested on animals.

Lush co founder Mark Constantine recently presented a Channel 4 documentary leading the public on a revolutionary insight into the consumer power over packaging, the effects, and cost packaging has on our pockets and the environment. You can watch the documentary on You Tube. (Part 1, 2, 3)

On 16th January 2006 Lush was taken to court in the UK by the Environment Agency. The offence was a technical one of not registering under The Packaging Waste Regulations 1997. This action to bring one of the most environmentally friendly companies in the UK on a technicality was not well received by the public.

There have been 3400 new pieces of legislation on average each year for the last 5 years. Lush started in 1995 and the new law came in during 1997 however Lush did not need to register under the Packaging Waste Regulations until the rules were changes in 2000 and to make it even more difficult the Environment Agency only put the rules on their website in 2005. Even allowing for this Lush has always recycled as well as offering packaging free alternatives to your every day products.

As soon as Lush were informed about the regulations they complied and attempted to make good any fees or charges that we had not paid. They say attempted because the Environment Agency tried to stop them so they could prosecute even though Kevin Parsons, Senior Environmental Officer, South West Region said ‘I agree Lush has been open and honest and that the environment has not suffered as a result of their action’.

He also said ‘It is very difficult for local officers as the scope for discretion is extremely limited. It causes us great difficulty in cases such as Lush as it is fully accepted that Lush is a company recycling on a very comprehensive basis.’

The magistrates took some time to discuss matters amongst themselves. They asked when the Regulations first came in as opposed to when the company first registered. The Lush barrister pointed out that there was no liability until the year 2000, which was when the limit came down from £5m to £2m. He also noted that there were two further small points that he had been asked to put forward to the magistrates. The first was to make clear explicitly the methods of recycling had been carried out since well before the year 2000. Secondly, that the Regulations had been placed on the Environment Agency’s website during the course of the last year and not before.

The magistrates retired for all of 15 minutes. They then said that the offences were ‘at the lower end of the scale’ and ‘having taken the mitigation into account’ that the compensation was the penalty.

It's a shame that genuine companies with positive attitudes towards making a beneficial difference to the environment are prosecuted over a technicality where those that flout the law are not brought before the courts.

H2O ... Tap into it

In the UK we spend £1.5 billion a year on 2.17 billion litres of bottled water. This equates to 15% of the soft drinks market and is projected to grow to 21% by 2008. I was once one of the 26m people in the UK who consume bottled water on a regular basis, however I have as part of my carbon reduction plan replaced this with tap water.

But Why?

The main reason is that bottled water requires a large use of energy, from the process of bottling, through the requirement of a glass or plastic bottle, then the huge food transport cost through carbon emissions. Petcore figures from 2004 said that Europe wide we recycled just over 30% of PET bottles. However, this is on the increase with a 47% increase over the last two years.

I have decided to take Evian (my favourite brand of bottled water) and the brand leader in the UK with a 14.3% market share or 310m litres in sales per year. Evian is an imported mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, a few kilometers to the east of Thonon-les-Bains along the southern shore of Lake Geneva.

So if I was to fill a lorry (or truck) with Evian and bring them to my home town of Belfast, how much Co2 emissions would be produced directly from food transport. Using Google maps to gauge the driving distance, note this is the most direct route available from source to Belfast, United Kingdom. It equates to 1115 miles. Taking the load as 5.29 tonnes (the average load on a UK lorry, Transport Statistics Great Britain 2002) or the equivalent to 5290 litres of Evian. The journey would emit 1936kg of Co2 (or 366g of Co2 per litre of Evian) for the one-way journey, one-third of food transport lorries are empty, so to assume that the vehicle may be empty on its return this could increase the Co2 emissions even further.

This is however only an assumption, if other forms of transport were used (preferably train / boat) this would result in lower emissions per litre. Over 1.5 billion bottles of Evian are sold every year in 125 countries worldwide, as far away as Hong Kong (just over 5000 miles).

Whilst Evian carry out over 300 quality checks per day, the quality of bottled water is similar to that of tap water. So next time your tempted by bottled water, imported coca-cola or beers consider its food transport cost.

H2O ... Tap into it





NB: The figures in this article were changed on Tuesday 23rd April 2007 due to a mistake in the source. The emissions were based per tonne but were taken as the load. This then increased the carbon emissions by 5.29.

Support Local Produce

Over 50% of vegetables and 90% of fruits consumed in the UK are imported from overseas, the majority by air. Food transport in the United Kingdom produces about 19m tonnes of Co2 per year, (equivalent to the output of all UK power stations) and this figure is increasing. However trying to increase your consumption of local produce is not only difficult, its time consuming. 100 years ago most food did not travel further than 20 miles, now you will be hard pushed to find more than a handful of items in your supermarket which have been locally produced.

Not only is food transport bad for the environment, it is also damaging to our roads, increasing congestion. One in four trucks on UK roads are transporting food, and of those one in three are empty.

So what can you do to reduce food transport;

• Buy Local Produce
  Purchasing local produce not only reduces food transport it also improves the local economy. Details of farmers markets and farm shops can be found on the following websites;
  
  Farmers Markets
  Big Barn
  Farm Shops
  The Foody
  
  
• Do Not Buy Imported Products
  Food produce imported to the UK often is sent by air, by reducing consumption of imports this will help reduce food transport. Certain foods can only be produced outside the UK, if you can not remove these completely reduction is advised where possible.
  
  
• Grow Your Own Fruit & Vegetables
  Growing fruit and vegetables can be a simple task, and in a relatively small area you can provide copious amounts of fresh produce. Any excess can be given to friends, neighbours and family. Common fruits grown are tomatoes which would otherwise be imported from Spain.
  
  
• Shop Weekly or Online
  Each family in the UK travels 18 miles a week to food shop, by carrying out one weekly shop or by shopping online, this can easily be reduced. Not only will this reduce food transport it will also save you approximately £140 per year on average.

Whilst in Belfast yesterday I visited the infamous St Georges Market. The Variety Market opens at 6.00am every Friday and runs until approximately 1.00pm. A range of products are sold at the market including food, antiques and clothes, and each Friday there is 248 stalls, 23 of which offer fresh fish and holds the reputation for being the leading retail fish market on the island of Ireland.

The original building was built between 1890 and 1896, and in 1997 received a £4.5m renovation. The market has won various national accolades;

• one of the top five UK markets in 2006 by the National Association of British Market Authorities
• Most Atmospheric Market in the UK in 2006 by the Observer newspaper.
• third Best Food Market in the UK in the Observer’s Waitrose Food Awards 2004

The City Food and Garden Market takes place every Saturday from 9.00am until 3.00pm. And some of the local produce includes; fish landed at Portavogie, pork from Cookstown, and beef from Armagh.

Whilst a large amount of produce is local, produce from further afield is also sold, you must at any market, question the origin of unless specifically stated.