Pesticide products sold to homeowners in the US after 1 October 2003 must carry instructions for consumers to contact their local solid waste agency or call a toll-free telephone number to learn how to dispose of the containers.

The new labeling standard is the result of four years of negotiations among manufacturers, the USEPA, and the North American Hazardous Materials Management Association (NAHMMA).

At present, household pesticide labels tell consumers to wrap partly full containers in newspaper and dispose of them in the garbage. The directions actually violate the law in some jurisdictions.

Britain will start auctioning emissions reduction allowances and incentives in late February 2002, ahead of the planned launch in April of the world's first national CO₂ emissions trading scheme.

Britain's energy-efficient combined heat and power industry is facing a collapse because the government has failed to back its ambitious targets with policies.

The government's promise in 1997 to double the amount of combined heat and power (CHP) in Britain to 10,000 megawatts by 2010, was not being matched by policies.

Back in 1997, the government said a drive to encourage CHP was part of the government's wider attempt to cut 1990 carbon emission levels by 20% by 2010.

Scientists at the University of Arizona are using screen-printing, a technique developed for patterning fabrics, to produce plastic solar cells. The organic cells have about a quarter of the efficiency of commercial silicon devices, which turn 10-20% of light energy into electricity, but being cheap to produce, can make up in quantity what they lack in quality.

Researchers at the University of Southern California and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have developed a methanol fuel cell that can generate 1.5 watts of electricity.

Pyromex PLC, a UK based company has signed an MOU, providing an option to secure the exclusive right in Australia and New Zealand to market, supply and distribute the Pyromex waste to energy process. The Pyromex process utilizes a patented ultra high temperature process to safely treat municipal, industrial and toxic wastes, reducing them to re-usable, inert, non-leachable solids and an energy rich fuel gas that can be used for a number of purposes including the generation of electricity.

Catalytic converters, the devices used on cars to turn toxic pollutants such as carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons into less harmful emissions through chemical reactions, are spewing out some other potentially toxic elements that are polluting roads, according to a study by a Wichita State researcher and researchers from the University of Notre Dam in the US.

The researchers found that platinum, palladium and rhodium, known collectively as platinum-group elements or PGEs were being emitted as microscopic particles from vehicle tailpipes and were building up to potentially harmful levels along roadsides.

According to a panel of respiratory specialists who convened recently at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology annual meeting in Orlando, USA, as many as 5% of all adult asthma cases can be linked to workplace allergens and irritants such as latex, mites, detergents, ammonia, chlorine, and a variety of substances used in the manufacture of plastics.

Doctors believe that there are two basic ways to get asthma in the workplace. The most common way is through constant exposure to allergens, which are substances your body is allergic to. Symptoms of an allergic reaction are similar to hay fever, and include runny nose and watery eyes. The other, less common, way is to be exposed to an irritant such as chlorine, a condition that is more likely to clear itself up after exposure.

According to a study commissioned by Environment Australia, appliance producers in Australia should be made legally and financially responsible for managing waste white goods because the manufacturers, importers, and retailers are in the best position to foster environmental improvements.

The programme would feature a tax on new appliances to finance the take-back system and waste treatment. The targets and procedures would become mandatory after a two-year voluntary period plus a one-year transition.

Many US power plants that use natural gas to generate electricity will slowly shift to coal as a cheaper, more reliable fuel source.

Coal is the largest source of fuel for power plants in the US, accounting for 50% of the total electricity generated each year. It is estimated that there are about 274 billion tons of coal buried within the US. Coal is a natural choice if natural gas is not able to meet the US energy demand in the future.

Clean coal technology was an important component of President George W. Bush's broad national energy plan announced in May 2001. The President had proposed investing US$2 billion in clean coal technologies over the next decade, and offering tax incentives to promote research. The coal industry could meet its goal of zero emissions within the next decade or two if more pollution-reducing technologies are developed and installed in power plants.