A £3.7m campaign wasbaunched by the owner of frozen food Company Birds Eye. The campaign aims to inform consumers across Europe of the benefits of freezing food on a million occasions by 2020. Also in the food industry a trial which could considerably increase plastic recycling rates has proved successful. Marks and Spencer and Sainsburys now hope other retailers will use the new black CPET trays.

Meanwhile, the UK Green Investment Bank announced it is investing in a groundbreaking recycling facility consisting of an 12.5MW energy from waste (EfW) plant built alongside – and ultimately used to power – a Materials Recycling Facility.

Headlining renewable news this week is Scotland as Department of Energy and Climate Change figures revealed it has hit its 50% electricity from renewable target a year early. All this green power will have contributed to the 8% drop in the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2014.

And UK businesses will now be able to cut their own carbon footprint more easily, as Eric Pickles introduced new rules this week allowing them to install solar arrays on rooftops without going through the planning system.

Finally it turns out 2014 was not just a bumper year for renewables, but also for electric vehicles – 43% of all electric vehicles globally were registered in 2014.

As ever, click the pic for the full story…

Lucinda Dann

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