Six months after the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 factory workers, a fire at another factory is reported to have killed at least ten people. Scores more workers are believed to have been injured and it is feared that the death toll could rise at the factory, which is one of the 1,500 factories that is used by signatories of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. The cause of the latest fire was not immediately clear but it reportedly broke out at a knitting section of Aswad Composite Mills, which has recently produced clothes for Western retailers including the US firm Walmart and LoblawCompanies, the Canadian firm which owns Hudson’sBay. Loblaw, a signatory of the Accord, said that it was looking into the issue and Walmart, a signatory of the US safety pact, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, said that it is “working to understand the facts and will take appropriate action based on our findings.” (Wall Street Journal; BBC)
Tax
Facebook pays zero corporation tax despite £223 million UK revenues
According to its latest accounts, Facebook paid no corporation tax in the UK last year, despite revenues of £223 million. The social network’s tax bill fell from £238,000 in 2011 to zero in 2012, while its UK income rose by 70 percent. In common with Google and Apple, Facebook funnels the majority of its UK income to Ireland by conducting a large proportion of its UK sales from the country, a controversial technique that is legal under HM Revenue & Customs’ tax law. The UK House of Commons Public Accounts Committee Chairwoman, Margaret Hodge, said that “this is yet another example of what appears to be deliberate manipulation of accounts of economic activity to deprive the British taxpayer of a rightful tax contribution.” Facebook said that it “pays all taxes required by UK law and we comply with tax laws in all countries where we operate and have employees and offices.” (The Guardian)
Environment
Solar “central” to energy mix as UK Government unveils roadmap
The UK Government has announced that solar energy will be “central” to the growth of the renewable energy sector in the UK and has launched the Roadmap to a Brighter Future, which sets out how the UK Government will work with the private sector to develop growth in the solar industry ahead of the UK’s first Solar PV strategy, which will be published next spring. In April 2013, the estimated value of the UK solar market was £1.5 billion but the UK Government estimates that this will rise to £21.4 billion by 2020. The Foresight Group, an infrastructure investment business which is planning to spend £200 million on solar farms in the UK, said that investors would be interested in backing the development of the industry as solar farms generate a steadier stream of income than other renewable energy sources such as wind farms. (Edie; The Times*)
Rogers Family launches 97% biodegradable single serve coffee cup
The US coffee firm, Rogers Family Company, has developed a single-serve coffee product that it claims is 97 percent biodegradable. The company said that an estimated 9.1 billion single serve coffee and drink cartridges, producing approximately 19 million cubic feet of waste, ends up in US landfills each year. Earlier this year, the US National Coffee Association said that 12 percent of US households owned single cup coffee machines and that the industry was looking for more sustainable options as one cup coffee pods are not easily recyclable. Rogers Family said that OneCup is composed of bio-based material from renewable natural resources, including vegetable oil and plant starches, and that the company is working to make the product’s mesh filter biodegradable to render the OneCup Bio 100 percent waste free. (Environmental Leader)
Innovation and Technology
Israeli firm mines sewage for recyclable bounty
The Israeli firm Applied CleanTech has developed a sewage mining system that picks out and recycles useful fibres from raw urban and industrial wastewater, thus increasing the efficiency of treatment plants and reducing the amount of unwanted sludge. The company’s first commercial system, which is housed in a 17 tonne shipping container, sits beneath the hillside town of Safed in northern Israel and sifts through sewage before it enters the municipal treatment centre. At the end of its conveyor belt, the device produces sterile lint-like pellets made from cellulose fibres, which are found in many discarded items, such as baby wipes or fruits and vegetables. The Chief Executive of Applied CleanTech, Refael Aharon, said the system “saves sewage treatment plants 20 to 30 percent of operational costs.” The company uses the pellets in the production of recycled paper but the majority of the pellets are sold as an alternative combustion source. Cities in both Israel and abroad are reported to have ordered Applied CleanTech’s technology. (Reuters)
COMMENTS