What went right this week: a recycling revolution, plus more

Local authorities across the UK will cash in on a share of £1.4bn thanks to new measures set to reinvent recycling by making producers pay a chunk of its cost.

Under the current system, local authorities – or, rather, taxpayers – have footed the bill for recycling our empty milk bottles, cereal boxes and soup tins.

That’s about to be binned with the government’s announcement of a new ‘Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging’ scheme, which shifts the financial burden to businesses who produce the packaging. 

They will be charged fees, which vary based on how easy their packaging is to recycle, with lower costs for reusable or refillable packaging. Producers have expressed concern about the cost of the scheme, warning that they will ultimately push up prices for shoppers. 

The overhaul comes into effect in November. The bulk of the cash will go to English local authorities to streamline collections and revamp recycling infrastructure. Devolved nations are expected to receive a £300,000 share of the pot.

The scheme aims to incentivise businesses to slash packaging and switch to more planet-friendly materials. Circular economy minister Mary Creagh hailed the move as a major step forward.

“This will revolutionise how we deal with our waste and ensure more of today’s rubbish is recycled into tomorrow’s packaging,” she said.

Image: Mali Maeder

In a quiet but significant milestone for the UK’s energy transition, more than half of the country’s electricity in 2024 was generated from renewable sources – the first time that clean energy has taken the majority share in the national power mix.

New figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero show that renewables accounted for 50.4% of electricity generation last year, up from 46.5% in 2023. At the same time, fossil fuels dropped to a record low, making up less than a third of the overall mix.

Gas power remains the UK’s single largest electricity source, responsible for 30% of supply, despite a 15% drop in output. Wind power is now close behind at 29.2%, suggesting that it may overtake gas as the UK’s top power source when 2025 figures are released.

Momentum is also building in offshore wind. The Scottish Government has just approved the Berwick Bank project off the east coast – set to become the world’s largest offshore wind farm at 4.1GW once complete. With this, the UK now has 28GW of offshore wind capacity consented and scheduled to come online over the next five years – enough to meet its 2030 clean energy targets.

“This is obviously fantastic news,” said Mel Evans, head of climate at Greenpeace UK. “But with energy bills still sky high, it highlights the absurdity of allowing a smaller and smaller proportion of gas to dictate the price we pay for power.”

Image: Fokke Baarsen

There was good news for trypanophobics this week with the discovery that vaccines could one day be administered via dental floss.

Trypanophobia – a morbid fear of needles – is a factor for one-in-ten vaccine-hesitant people. Now researchers from North Carolina State University, US, have used a vaccine-coated floss to target the junctional epithelium – the ‘naturally leaky’ tissue where the teeth meet the gums – in mice. 

The method improves on needle-administered vaccines by triggering an immune response not only in the blood but also in the mucosal lining of the nose and lungs – common entry points for pathogens. It also worked better than vaccines placed under the tongue. 

Floss-based vaccines won’t be coming to your bathroom cabinet just yet, however. Although human volunteers using floss doused in food dye proved it’s simple enough to target the junctional epithelium, researchers say clinical trials are needed.

“These findings establish floss-based vaccination as a simple, needle-free strategy,” the study authors write.

Image: Sora Shimazaki

Conservation efforts have been credited for a spike in seahorse sightings off the coast of Dorset. 

The Seahorse Trust had been monitoring numbers in Studland Bay since 2008. The site was designated a marine conservation zone six years ago, but habitat decline caused by boat anchors disturbing seagrass left populations dwindling.

Now, seagrass is beginning to flourish again thanks to almost 100 new ‘eco moorings’ which gently screw into the seabed to prevent scouring of marine vegetation. Divers are totting up as many as 33 of the endearing creatures in a single survey.  

Trust founder Neil Garrick-Maidment hopes the eco-moorings can be rolled out across other sites.

“At one point we had two-and-a-half years without seeing a single seahorse in Studland,” he told Positive News. “Now we see them on almost every dive. It’s amazing.”

It’s not the only bit of good news to bubble up from the deep this week as a critically endangered angel shark made a splash in Wales’ Cardigan Bay, the first sighting in the area since 2021.

“We were thrilled to record an angel shark in Cardigan Bay, a rare and exciting encounter,” said Dr Sarah Perry, marine conservation and research manager at the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.

Image: Neil Garrick-Maidment/The Seahorse Trust

Llamas, in lab coats, are coming down the stairs – and they might just hold the key to treating schizophrenia. 

That’s right. The pyjama-wearing woolly mammal immortalised in bedtime rhyme has emerged as the unlikeliest of heroes in efforts to devise new therapies for one of the world’s most complex mental illnesses.

Scientists from the University of Montpellier’s Institute of Functional Genomics in France, harnessed a unique llama antibody to create ‘nanobodies’ capable of slipping through the blood-brain barrier to target receptors.

In tests of ‘preclinical models of schizophrenia’ using mice, cognitive function improved with just a single jab. Scientists hope the same approach could one day regulate brain activity in people with schizophrenia or other neurological illnesses.

“Our results establish a proof of concept that nanobodies can target brain receptors, and pave the way for nanobody-based therapeutic strategies for the treatment of brain disorders,” the study authors wrote in Nature.

Image: Sébastien Goldberg

From brain disease-busting camelids to ruminants combating forest fires in Chile – we bring you news of the ‘goat brigade’.

The 250-strong herd is deployed in ‘strategic grazing’ in several locations around Chile’s central Biobío region, 340 miles (547km) from Santiago, creating natural firebreaks by feasting on fire-hazardous shrubs.

The method was put to the test in 2023 when 30 families found shelter in a goat-grazed safety zone amid Chile’s deadliest wildfires in a decade 

The Buena Cabra (“Good Goat”) project was started back in 2016 by biologist Rocío Cruces and forestry engineer Víctor Faúndez with the help of conservationists. 

To date it has saved 600,000 sq m of land from the flames. Findings from an ongoing smart collar experiment tracking the goats’ movement will be presented later this year.

Image: Bailey Mahon

A pioneering, high-res satellite blasted into orbit this week in a collaboration between the US and India which aims to change the way we view our planet.

The $1.2bn (£908m) NISAR satellite – devised by Nasa and the Indian Space Research Organisation – will use radar to map Earth in ‘unprecedented’ detail, measuring ecosystem change, shifting ice masses and sea level rises.

The technology can measure variations in the Earth’s surface just a single centimetre in height even at night and through the cover of cloud – unlike optical sensors.

It’s hoped the publicly-available data will help to forecast and respond to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, monitor climate change and inform agricultural policies.

“This launch marks the beginning of a new way of seeing the surface of our planet so that we can understand and foresee natural disasters and other changes in our Earth system that affect lives and property,” said Nasa’s Karen St Germain. 

Image: Nasa

An international coalition of researchers has drawn up a map of subterranean fungi which they hope will shape the future of climate mitigation.

SPUN – The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks – crunched data from 2.8bn fungi DNA sequences collected in 25,000 soil samples across 130 countries to model its Underground Atlas of mycorrhizal fungi.

These hair-like structures form symbiotic relationships with plant and tree roots, supercharging nutrient exchange, boosting water retention and preventing erosion, while sucking 13bn tonnes of CO2 into the soil every year – equivalent to over a third of global fossil fuel emissions.

But SPUN point out they’ve been largely overlooked in conservation and climate change efforts, with 90 per cent of Earth’s mycorrhizal hotspots remaining unprotected. That changes, they say, with their new map.

“These analyses are the first step to leveraging mycorrhizal systems to guide restoration strategies, design new models of conservation, and develop more sustainable farming systems,” SPUN said in an explainer.

Image: Volodymyr Tokar

England is taking on health inequality in the LGBTQ+ community with the announcement of a major review. It comes amid evidence pointing to LGBTQ+ people experiencing worse access to healthcare and poorer outcomes than the general population.

The review will scrutinise evidence and data from a range of settings including mental health, perinatal care, drug and alcohol services, and cancer screening. Service providers, academics and individuals with relevant interest are being invited to submit data-led evidence. The review will then make its recommendations to bridge the inequality gap.   

The Patients Association, a charity campaigning for healthcare improvement, welcomed the move.

“We believe everyone should have equal access to safe, timely, and high-quality care,” said its chief executive Rachel Power. “This review is a long-overdue opportunity to listen to LGBTQ+ patients and healthcare professionals, identify where the system is falling short, and most importantly partner with this community to make improvements.”

Image: A.C

Vaccination, healthy eating and cutting down on booze could eradicate the majority of liver cancer cases worldwide, according to analysis published this week in the Lancet.

Liver cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer death globally, with 40 per cent of cases occurring in China, where hepatitis B infections are high.

The Lancet forecasts global cases will double over the next 25 years, with more than one in ten resulting from a severe form of fatty liver disease linked to obesity.

Boosting hepatitis vaccination programmes and encouraging changes to diet and drinking habits could reverse the trend, the Lancet says, preventing as many as 60 per cent of cases and saving 8-15 million lives over the next quarter of a century.

The findings were revealed as part of the medical journal’s Commission on liver cancer. Its recommendations include minimum alcohol unit pricing, mandatory hepatitis vaccination and routine lifestyle counselling.

Report lead author Prof Stephen Chan, said: “As three in five cases of liver cancer are linked to preventable risk factors, mostly viral hepatitis, alcohol and obesity, there is a huge opportunity for countries to target these risk factors, prevent cases of liver cancer and save lives.”

Image: Andrea Piacquadio
Main image: coldsnowstorm