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There’s a sweeter smell in the air around Cork Harbour this sunny afternoon. You can hear the collective community sighs. After a three year wait we have a glimmer of hope in the form of a High Court decision that vindicates a committed community’s claim to a safe environment and clean air. Today (Friday 19th…

Mass production of plastics, which began just six decades ago, has accelerated so rapidly that it has created 8.3 billion metric tons—most of it in single use disposable products that end up as trash. (source NationalGeographic). A study, published back in July 13th 2017, in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, was the first global analysis…

There’s a whiff of inadequacy and low ambition about our Government’s draft National Air Pollution Control Plan. We need a more citizen’s welfare centred approach. Luckily the EU mandates public scrutiny and comment on draft plans. We took that opportunity with both lungs. We recommend you do also. NAPCP Plan needs more ambition. So we…

At Zero Waste Alliance Ireland (ZWAI) we hate to waste any resource, whether it’s food, money, water and particularly any waste of opportunities. We’re delighted in this instance to see that An Fóram Uisce share the same concerns as we do as regards the waste of our precious water resources and the destruction of nutrients…

bought from online shops? Not content with trying to combat fast fashion, Aparna Mehta reveals the unseen world of online returns – which, instead of ending up back on the shelf, go elsewhere. Would you consider Greenturning? Watch to find out what happens…

It used to be just people that traffickers targeted. Now Traffickers see Plastic waste as a valuable material. Interpol is on the case and it’s disturbing. A recent INTERPOL report has found an alarming increase in illegal plastic waste pollution trade across the world since 2018. The report provides a disturbing insight into emerging trafficking…

The recent publication of the new Coalition Government’s agreed programme for government , called the ‘Programme for Government – Our Shared Future’, has left a lot of jaws stuct to the floor. The document, so long touted as ‘imaginative and progressive’, fell far short. It was, however, full of wishfull thinking with more reviews promised…

Sign the Call for EU Council presidency to stop the EU-Mercosur Agreement. Sign the Call for German EU Council presidency to stop the EU-Mercosur Agreement Environmental crisis looming with proposed agreement. ZWAI , in partnership with very many other organizations throughout the EU, is concerned with the deep flaws embedded in the proposed EU-Mercosur trade…

‘oh my my oh my my ,oh my my July’ go the words of a popular song by Mundy. (It’s a cracker and you can check it out on youtube). The title has real meaning now as we reach the deadline for enacting some far reaching EU waste prevention laws in Ireland. But the sad…

SHOPPING FOR FASHION ? Cool, ethical clothes for little ZERO WASTERS We recently covered the rise of slow fashion and extolled zero wasters to cut out fast fashion purchases wherever possible in favour of ethical clothes. Well, coincidentally, last week we had the pleasure of meeting award winning ethical clothes designer, Alison Mc Evoy. She…

As the number of coronavirus cases continues to increase all over the world, you’ve likely noticed a shortage of hand sanitizer in your local shops. Don’t want to pay an exorbitant price for the price-gouged hand sanitizer being sold online? Don’t worry because the World Health Organization (WHO) reassured us that traditional hand washing —…

I remember, as a child growing up in Cork, that there was a second hand bookstore on the street (it was the pre-Zero Waste era but zero waste was being practiced by many without realising it, due to necessity). The bookshop offered trade ins for all sorts of paperback books & comics in a sort…