Generation Green visit recycling plant

I was impressed by the passion, enthusiasm and knowledge of many of the children who are participating in the Generation Green youth think tank, sponsored by British Gas. Age 7-14 we met at Dagenham docks to have a look around the Closed Loop recycling plant.

They were told all about recycling plastic bottles and were quite surprised that so much of the process was actually devoted to sorting out the different types of plastics and the different colours. There was also a machine that sniffed the plastic chips to check for any contamination - it had a 'nose' that was four times more powerful than a dogs. And one of the children told us that a dog's nose is 1000 times more powerful than a humans (I don't know if that's true!).

At the end of the day the children came up with some green ideas. These included calling for more recycling bins in city centres, theme parks and fast food restaurants. They realised that domestic recycling was getting quite good but if you're on the move facilities are generally pretty poor. They also complained about over-packaging of toys and suggested that companies making plastic bottles should reduce the number of colours and the materials they use to make recycling simpler.

One of the children recommended green buses promoting environmental issues. Another said that they wished there was green club in their area because they'd join it.

I was their expert advisor throughout the day and told them at the beginning that we wanted lots of questions - as it turned out that wasn't a problem at all. They were amazing and had plenty to say. Here are some quotes from the day:

"I just want to make the world a better place."

"The blades on wind turbines should be painted lots of different colours."

"We should stop using industrial stuff like bricks and fossil fuels." Followed by "That's a bit drastic."

"Humans are greedy."

"Try giving everything up and forget about it." Followed by "I won't'

"Humans have dominion over the Earth so they don't care what they waste."

"We should cut out fossil fuels and make use of the energy around us - solar power, wave power etc."

"I love knowing when you're saving CO2"

"It's a good thing that oil is running out - it might mean we have a greener world - the reality of it means we have to re-think and that renewables are the obvious choice."

The next trip is in the Autumn. We'll be taking the children to the Centre for Alternative Technology in North Wales. And there will be one more trip before we pull together some of their policy ideas and take them to Downing Street. By that time we may have a new prime minister. But whoever is then residing at Number 10, they should be pleased to get some fresh ideas - these children are representing their generation. And they want to be heard.

An inconvenient truth about fish - The End of the Line

A fish collapse. 90% of the big fish are gone. The global fishing capacity is big enough to catch four times more fish than actually exist in the sea. We've just squandered one of the greatest resources on the planet - wild fish.

The End of the Line leaves one in no doubt about the devastating impact of the world's fishing fleet. What really amazed me was how recent catastrophic over-fishing has been. Back in 1988 when I co-wrote The Green Consumer Guide we did point out that cod was facing collapse in the North Sea, that dolphins were being caught in tuna nets and that the sturgeon was being over-fished for caviar but the main focus of our fish section was on pollution, whaling and fish-farming.

Although I've kept abreast of fish issues since then, there were things in the film that surprised me. One of these was the total collapse of the Newfoundland cod fishing industry in 1992 - and that it has never recovered. Another was that the Chinese data for fish consumption was completely inaccurate and hugely over-claimed the amount of fish they were eating. This meant scientists thought there were far more fish being caught than was the case - so the red alert on declining fish stocks was late in coming.

One part of the film that was quite amusing was seeing Charles Clover 'playing' the Nobu restaurant owner about his policy on blue fin tuna. The restaurant is best-known for Boris Becker's antics in its broom cupboard but apparently attracts many celebrities, although I didn't see any when I went there. I won't be going again. Having listened to the facts about the scarcity of blue fin tuna, they are keeping it on the menu, albeit with the information that it is 'unsustainable'. Apparently transparent but this is a classic example of a company simply avoiding the issue - they clearly don't give a damn.

I think that the message at the end of the film telling people what they can do is much clearer than the action messages from An Inconvenient Truth. The recommendations are: 1. Ask before you buy - only eat sustainable seafood 2. Tell politicians - respect the science, cut the fishing fleet and 3. Join the campaign - for marine protected areas and responsible fishing.

Charles Clover pointed out that although this is a serious problem, unlike climate change it's relatively easy to do something about it - and that's encouraging. He explains that the cost of converting 30% of the world's oceans into marine reserves would be less than is currently paid out in fish subsidies. Let's do it.

Pig heaven

A friend of mine called Sarah has bought three not so little piglets. They're only 9 weeks old but already quite porky. They're also rather endearing and very friendly - snuffling and snorting around their wooded enclosure. One of the piglets has been nick-named 'rotavator' because he seems to be particularly good at turning over the soft earth with his nose.

Even though these pigs are destined to become ham, bacon, sausage and pork chops, they appear to be living in a pig heaven. Plenty of shade, crumbly soil and regular supplies of food. They're given pig nuts to fatten them up. But the remaining part of their diet is a little more controversial.

I was horrified to discover that it is actually illegal for any food that has been through a domestic kitchen to be used for pig food. That includes potato peelings, carrot tops and apple cores. If you go to the supermarket and buy some fruit and vegetables you can give it directly to the pigs - but not if you've stopped off in the kitchen en route.

This is yet another example of the over-the-top nonsensical legislation that has been brought in following BSE and foot and mouth. Laws are being passed that are more mad than the mad cows - or pigs - they are trying to prevent. They are being devised on the basis of what could be a problem and applied across the board, whether it makes sense or not.

The result of this is that for the first two days in their new home these piglets were being fed whole bananas and fresh vegetables that were fit for human consumption. My friend then went to Waitrose to see if she could have some of their food waste. The request was refused even though it transpired that the waste from that store all went directly to landfill. The local Sainsbury store was better - they were sending food waste to a nearby wildlife sanctuary.

More positively, I can report that Sarah has found a local organic retailer who is happy to provide a bucket of pig feed every week. The piglets will apparently be joining some other animal consumers in hoovering up the leftovers.

On average, waste food has a carbon footprint that is 10 times greater than packaging. But whilst there's uproar about the excessive packaging on food. In most developed countries we actually waste about half the food we produce hence the campaign Love Food Hate Waste. And increasingly councils are trying to collect food waste either for composting or for anaerobic digestion - to collect the methane gas from it and use it for fuel.

But pigs are a traditional dustbin for food waste. It seems to me that it's a crime to remove their integral role in the domestic food chain. My garden isn't so suited to pig rearing as Sarah's but if I ever manage to go that route, I'm pretty sure I'll be flouting the law and giving my pigs all sorts of delicious peelings and scraps. B***** the bureaucrats.