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New technology to handle solid waste in Kolar

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Source: Deccan Herald Date : 09.07.2009

New technology to handle solid waste in Kolar

K Narasimhamurthy,DH News Service,Kolar:

Kolar City Municipal Council has planned to adopt new technology to manage the City’s solid waste.
 

Talking to the Deccan Herald,V Mohan Kumar, CMC Environmental Executive Engineer, who had recently returned after finishing study tour in Karwar about solid waste management, said that Council had sent a proposal demanding 25 acres of land near Varadenahalli-Mittagallahalli to handle the City’s solid waste.

In Karwar Dolphy method is followed, which involves the old model of solid waste purification plant. In this method, garbage which is segregated will be collected in a place and sand layers will be built on them.

Employing new technology in garbage treatment will provide more benefits such as increased income, preparation of compost manure from garbage, recycling of plastic and and other waste products to produce energy etc.

By adopting such methods, we can handle solid waste and also generate income at the same time, Mohan added.

We can produce power by passing purified wastes through gas chamber and save power. Mohan said, “In Karwar, only five acres of land has been allotted for the garbage treatment plant instead of the 25 acres of land that we demanded. If we are provided with vacant land treating solid waste trough new technology becomes an easy task for us.”

25 acres of land


Proposal seeking 25 acres of land for the construction of waste treatment plant has been submitted six months ago. In the six months time, survey has been conducted twice.

The office of the Deputy Commissioner should consider this matter seriously and should take appropriate action, he added.

 

G8 welcomes developing states, eyes climate, trade

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Source: Deccan Herald Date : 09.07.2009

G8 welcomes developing states, eyes climate, trade

 

L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters)


Leaders of the world's richest and main developing nations meet on Thursday to try to find common ground on global warming and international trade, with the poorer countries seeking concessions.


G8 leaders at the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy. APUS President Barack Obama will chair the climate discussions, but hopes of agreeing ambitious goals have faded after China and India rejected demands to halve emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.

The talks take place on the second of a three-day Group of Eight summit, with discussions broadened to include the heads of new economic powerhouses in recognition that the world's problems can no longer be dealt with by an elite few.

The fragile state of the global economy dominated the first day of the annual G8 summit, with the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia acknowledging there were still significant risks to financial stability.

They also agreed to try to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Farenheit) above pre-industrial age levels and pledged to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by between 50 and 80 percent by mid-century.

The 17-member Major Economies Forum (MEF), which groups the G8 plus big developing nations, also looks set to embrace the 2 Celsius goal on Thursday, but is balking at further commitments ahead of a decisive U.N. climate conference in December.

Indian negotiators said developing countries first wanted to see rich nation plans to provide financing to help them cope with ever more floods, heatwaves, storms and rising sea levels.

Temperatures have already risen by about 0.7 Celsius since the start of the Industrial Revolution ushered in widespread burning of fossil fuels, and Italy's prime minister said everyone should share the burden of tackling the problem.

"It would not be productive if European countries, Japan, the United States and Canada accepted cuts that are economically damaging while more than 5 billion people in other countries carried on as before," Silvio Berlusconi said.

ECONOMY, CURRENCIES, TRADE

Broader economic concerns will also be high on the agenda on Thursday, with emerging nations complaining they are suffering heavily from a crisis that was not of their making.

China, India and Brazil have all questioned whether the world should start seeking a new global reserve currency as an alternative to the dollar. They have said they may raise this on Thursday after discussing it among themselves on Wednesday.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters developing economies in the so-called "G5" had suggested the use of alternative currencies to settle trade between themselves.

The debate is highly sensitive in financial markets, which are wary of risks to U.S. asset values, and the issue is unlikely to progress very far in L'Aquila.

However, a breakthrough on trade did look within reach.

Diplomats say the G8 and G5 should agree to conclude the stalled Doha round of trade talks in 2010. Launched in 2001 to help poor countries prosper, they have stumbled on proposed tariff and subsidy cuts.

"We commit to reach a rapid, ambitious, balanced and comprehensive conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda," the G8 said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

G5 nations issued their own statement, saying they would try to address "any outstanding problems" on trade talks and that a successful conclusion of Doha would provide "a major stimulus to the restoration of confidence in world markets."

But they also called on the world's richest nations to tear down trade barriers and restore credit to the poorest countries.

Last Updated on Thursday, 09 July 2009 11:31
 

Can India follow West in saying no to bottled water?

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Source: The Economic Times Date : 09.07.2009

Can India follow West in saying no to bottled water?

SYDNEY: Residents of a rural Australian town hoping to protect the earth and their wallets have voted to ban the sale of bottled water, the first

community in the country _ and possibly the world _ to take such a drastic step in the growing backlash against the industry.

Residents of Bundanoon cheered after their near-unanimous approval of the measure at a town meeting Wednesday. It was the second blow to Australia's beverage industry in one day: Hours earlier, the New South Wales state premier banned all state departments and agencies from buying bottled water, calling it a waste of money and natural resources.

``I have never seen 350 Australians in the same room all agreeing to something,'' said Jon Dee, who helped spearhead the ``Bundy on Tap'' campaign in Bundanoon, a town of 2,500 about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Sydney. ``It's time for people to realize they're being conned by the bottled water industry.''

First popularized in the 1980s as a convenient, healthy alternative to sugary drinks, bottled water today is often criticized as an environmental menace, with bottles cluttering landfills and requiring large amounts of energy to produce and transport.

Over the past few years, at least 60 cities in the United States and a handful of others in Canada and the United Kingdom have agreed to stop spending taxpayer dollars on bottled water, which is often consumed during city meetings, said Deborah Lapidus, organizer of Corporate Accountability International's ``Think Outside the Bottle'' campaign in the U.S.

But the Boston-based nonprofit corporate watchdog has never heard of a community banning the sale of bottled water, she said.

``I think what this town is doing is taking it one step further and recognizing that there's safe drinking water coming out of our taps,'' she said.

Bundanoon's battle against the bottle has been brewing for years, ever since a Sydney-based beverage company announced plans to build a water extraction plant in the town. Residents were furious over the prospect of an outsider taking their water, trucking it up to Sydney for processing and then selling it back to them. The town is still fighting the company's proposal in court.

Then in March, Huw Kingston, who owns the town's combination cafe and bike shop, had a thought: If the town was so against hosting a water bottling company, why not ban the end product?

To prevent lost profit in the 10-or-so town businesses that sell bottled water, Kingston suggested they instead sell reusable bottles for about the same price. Residents will be able to fill the bottles for free at public water fountains, or pay a small fee to fill them with filtered water kept in the stores.

Last Updated on Friday, 10 December 2010 07:26
 


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