The public is finally able to comment on London Major Ken Livingstone's plan for air quality in London.

Livingstone has launched a glossy 230 pages air quality strategy - one of eight strategies he is required to produce under legislation.

The main policies proposed by Ken Livingstone include:

• A 55% reduction in annual average NOx concentrations is required at background sites to meet objectives and even larger reductions to bring roadside sites below the limits.
• Road pricing plan that will cut central London traffic by 15% and peg traffic elsewhere in London, focusing on cleaning up individual vehicles through clean vehicle technologies.
• Most authority-controlled vehicles (fire engines, buses and council service vehicles) to run on clean fuels, or with cleaned-up exhausts.
• By 2005, all 6,400 vehicles in the London bus network fleet will be Euro II standard or better. Particles traps will be fitted to buses at a rate of 800 a year to reduce particle emissions by 20% of 1997 levels.
• Use alternative fuel vehicles such as fuel cells and electric vehicles.

Tougher limits are being proposed by the UK Government that will take air quality policy beyond the current objectives, which end in 2003-2005.

The new consultation is intended to fulfill the UK Government's pledge to deliver cleaner air more quickly, but not until 2010. For England, particle limits have been taken out of statutory local authority air quality management requirements, placing them on the same voluntary basis as ozone.

The proposals involve:

• Particles: PM₁₀ annual mean objective levels will halve from the current 40 µg/m³ and the number of exceedences of the 50 µg/m³ daily limit will be reduced (depending on location) by 2010.
• Benzene: The current 5 ppb objective will reduce to 1 ppb.
• Carbon monoxide: UK will harmonise its current 10 ppm standard to that of the EU which is 8 ppm.
• PAH (Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) will be added to the list of pollutants in the strategy, with a provisional objective of 0.25 ng/m³ by 2010.

The European Parliament has agreed to support the Commission's plans to cut air pollution from lawnmowers, hedge trimmers and other non-road mobile machinery but has demanded that loopholes for large manufacturers be closed.

It voted to agree to proposals limiting hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides from spark ignition engines powering these equipment. But it demanded that the Commission drops its plan to allow manufacturers to offset higher emission limits for some products against lower ones for others, as it believes this would give big manufacturers an unfair advantage.

The states involved in the "eCycling Project" - Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, are establishing collection points for electronics equipment from a variety of sources, including residential, small businesses and small government offices.

The project is currently in a year-long pilot phase, which will allow participants to get a feel for what infrastructure is needed, along with how to best operate such a programme. The merchandise being targeted for collection and recycling includes computers, television, cell phones, VCRs, audio equipment and similar equipment.

ENERGY STAR is a voluntary labeling programme introduced by US EPA in 1992. The programme identifies and promotes energy efficient products in a wide range of categories, including new homes, major appliances, lighting, electronics, heating and cooling equipment and more.

The National Recycling Economic Information Study, conducted for the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) by the consulting firm R W Beck, Inc. and commissioned by the US Environmental Protection Agency, provides the first definitive evidence of recycling contributions to the national economy.

According to the study, the recycling industry employs 1.1 million people nationwide, generating an annual payroll of $37 billion and grossing $236 billion in annual sales. Wages for recycling workers are notably higher than the national average for all industries.

The Prokon Nord company has been authorised to build 12 windmills 45 kilometres (28 miles) northwest of the island of Borkum in the North Sea. The project provides for eventually up to 208 windmills.

Work is expected to begin early 2003 on the 60 megawatts pilot scheme, which will cost up to 280 million marks (143 million euros, US$129 million) and supply electricity to the mainland by an undersea cable. Each mill is expected to be able to produce up to 20 million kilowatt/hours.