The UK is in danger of building too many waste treatment plants and could reach over-capacity by 2015, new research warns.

A study from Eunomia Research & Consulting claims that if all of the facilities which have been granted planning consent are built and if waste arisings remain flat, then the country will have 5m tonnes more capacity than it requires.

The situation will be exacerbated if any plants which are currently in planning or unannounced are also built, or if waste arisings continue to fall, as they have for the past five years.

The UK consumes an astonishing 165 million cups of tea every day, but most of the teabags that go to making the nation's favourite hot drink still end up unnecessarily in landfill.

Now manufacturing giant Unilever has teamed up with two Essex councils, Brentwood and Chelmsford, together with Wrap the government's advisory body on waste, to encourage people to compost their teabags with their food waste.

Unilever UK is the manufacturer of tea brand PG Tips, while the group is the largest tea buyer in the world, buying about 12% of the world's tea supply of black tea.

A satellite sensor launched from a space centre in French Guyana is being used by the NSW Environment Protection Authority to track illegal dumping of ACT construction waste across the border.

The Spot 5, launched a decade ago, is a three-tonne computer mapping device that takes a high-resolution photo every 90 seconds during its high-speed orbit of the Earth.

Scientists have identified thousands of sites in the Arctic where methane that has been stored for many millennia is bubbling into the atmosphere.

The methane has been trapped by ice, but is able to escape as the ice melts.

Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers say this ancient gas could have a significant impact on climate change.

Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after CO2 and levels are rising after a few years of stability.

Ahmedabad: These tiny creatures love heavy metal. It’s not music we mean, but toxic metals like cadmium, mercury, chromium, lead and zinc: stuff that not only cause cancer but also trigger impairments in humans after they seep into our soil and groundwater. A five-year research at the Central University of Gujarat (CUG) has zeroed in on a special group of microbes — mainly bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes — that not only munch on these deadly wastes but also turn the land useful by a process of bio-cleansing.

Technicians dismantle e-waste from discarded electronic devices such as computer peripherals at Earth Sense Recycle unit in Andhra Pradesh.

Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Ltd. to help in choosing right technology

A total of 31 multi-national companies on Thursday expressed interest in supplying suitable technology to the Chennai Corporation for its massive solid waste management initiative that includes remediation and scientific closure of the Perungudi and Kodungaiyur dumpyards.

Waste Management: With no “proper place” designated for the community to dump solid waste, some frustrated residents of Khasadrapchu dug a garbage pit by the riverside six years ago.

Located below the road that leads to the Gidakom hospital, the landfill is not fenced nor missed by passersby or stray dogs. One can see that the wind has blown some into the river, while papers and plastics cling on to the bare branches.

Solid wastes being discarded in open dumping grounds or used as land fill in low-lying areas is causing soil run-off and groundwater pollution. The Pollution Control Board has conveyed this to the GHMC on various occasions, but to no avail. Water analyses around these sites have detected heavy elements, high Biological Oxygen Demand and Chemical Oxygen Demand, high hardness and alkalinity. Posing a potential threat to public health, the water has been deemed unfit for domestic use and consumption, the PCB said.