EU pledges funds for Baltic Sea

The European Commission has announced it will support a four-year project to improve the environment and sustainable development of the Baltic Sea. The EU pledged EUR 3 million for the initiative. The Baltic Sea is Europe’s largest internal water basin, but its nine bordering countries have never coordinated their research. The EU’s BONUS project will help to better address challenges such as pollution, regional development, protection of natural resources and marine sciences. The project brings together 10 research-funding organisations from eight of the countries on the Baltic Sea and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), according to www.bonusportal.org. It will enable joint oversight of national or international research programmes through the pooling of resources and the consistent planning of projects to complement policies.

Slovakia backs Germany on lorry fees

Slovak transport minister Pavol Prokopovic has agreed to support Germany in EU debates over heavy-lorry charging and weekend lorry bans. His German counterpart, Manfred Stolpe, visited Bratislava in May to promote Germany’s wish for weekend bans to apply to all lorries over 7.5 tonnes. Germany wants EU lorry charging rules to be based on true costs of road and environmental damage and for income to go exclusively to transport infrastructure, including railways, the Environment Daily reported.

Plastic recycling guide released

A new recycling guide has been released to help local authorities cope with the ever expanding volume and types of plastic waste. The Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling (ACRR) — an association of more than 70 European cities and regions — produced the guide in cooperation with several plastics industry associations. Waste plastic can be difficult to recycle for technical or economic reasons. As a result, plastics are often neglected when local authorities plan a recycling campaign. The new guidelines argue that waste plastics can and should be better collected, recovered and recycled. ACRR’s 'Good Practices Guide on Waste Plastic Recycling', a Guide by and for Local and Regional Authorities,’’ seeks to help local authorities in this respect.

The guidelines aim to answer several questions faced by local authorities seeking to improve plastics recycling, including:

• Why recycle plastics?
• How can local/regional authorities improve waste plastics collection?
• How can local/regional authorities improve sorting and related activities?
• How can the development of supply and demand for recycled plastics be promoted?
• Copies of the guide are available at: www.acrr.org/news

Emissions deadline missed

The European Commission announced proceedings against six EU member states for not submitting allocation plans on climate emissions trading, according to the Environment Daily news service. Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain missed the spring deadline. Seven new EU members also missed it but will get grace periods. Many of the plans received “go for a rather high quantity of allowances,” including those from the new member states, said EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom.