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INDUSTRY RECYCLING PLANS UNVEILED
"The household appliance industry in Europe, specialist recyclers and operators of electroscrap take-back schemes are working together to develop recycling specifications for end-of-life refrigerators and freezers containing hydrocarbons (HCs). This initiative is geared towards ensuring safety and high quality handling and recycling of equipment that features cooling circuits or insulation materials containing hydrocarbons, such as isobutane and cyclopentane."
"The reason why the three organisations are
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INDIA BECOMES LONDON'S SECOND LARGEST FOREIGN INVESTOR
"Think London, the foreign direct investment agency for London, has announced that the number of Indian companies it has assisted to set up business in London has doubled in the last year. Indian companies now represent 30 percent of all foreign investment in London, making it the capital's second biggest overseas investor after the US, which accounts for 50 percent. "
"Within the past year alone, twenty two Indian companies have set up in London - likely to generate around 400 new jobs in total. Three
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KEN'S LOWER EMISSIONS PLAN A ZONE OF CONTENTION
Polluting coaches and lorries entering London face fines of up to £1000 under a scheme recently proposed by Mayor Ken Livingstone.
"But Conservatives on the London Assembly have warned Transport for London's own figures show expected costs for the scheme have already more than doubled.<BR>The Conservatives welcome the idea of a so-called 'Low Emission Zone' to cut polluting vehicles but not if the costs are prohibitive.<BR>In October 2004, TfL estimated the cost of developing and implementing
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AVIATION EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME
Aviation emissions are not currently a major environmental problem but will become one as air travel continues to grow. A report published by the House of Lords EU Committee supports moves to ensure that aviation pays for the cost of its emissions and to include aviation in the EU emissions trading scheme.
"The report believes that the EU proposals have underestimated the likelihood that rationing of carbon use by airlines will, in the long term, significantly increase the costs of air travel and have a major li
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GAS PANIC
"The looming gas crisis which threatened to engulf British industry this winter put enormous strain on small to medium-sized manufacturers, a leading business pressure group has said. FPB member Mark Langdown, Managing Director of Dorset Flint and Stone Blocks of Andover Hampshire, said his firm employs 12 people and uses gas as part of the manufacturing process."
"The price of gas has risen considerably in the last two and a half years,' he said. Any further increases would have a devastating effect on
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ROVER'S RETURN
Chinese carmaker Nanjing Automobile has taken a 33-year lease on the former MG Rover plant at Longbridge in central England and said it still hoped to revive production at the site.
"This means we can move forward with our business plan to build cars at Longbridge. The MG brand is famous and we are proud to project it into an exciting future, Nanjing UK Chairman Wang Hongbiao said in a statement. <BR> T&G union national secretary for the car industry, Dave Osborne, said the lease confirmed Nanjing was
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RISE IN LENDING
"The Bank of England has said mortgage lending rose by £9.2bn in January, the biggest increase in almost two years. "
"The figure chimes with the firmer housing market and the sharp annual rise in mortgage approvals revealed by the British Banking Association recently. The Bank also reported that consumer credit rose by £1.3bn, with credit card lending increasing by £0.7bn. However, the annual growth rate of consumer credit continued to decline, hitting 8.7 percent in Januar
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COMMITMENT TO WORK NEEDED FROM BENEFIT SEEKERS
"Commenting on the Government's attempt to get one million incapacity claimants back to work within 10 years the Forum of Private Business (FPB) said the drive will only work if job seekers are willing, able and enthusiastic."
"The FPB, which speaks for small firms who employ more than 12m people in the UK, a third of the workforce, said businesses are crying out for workers to fill the skills gap but cannot carry passengers.<BR> ""Small businesses need willing workers particularly in sec
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PRINTING ELECTRONICS: PREPARE FOR A STEP CHANGE IN THE PRINTING AND ELECTRONICS INDUSTRIES
"Without question silicon chips have had a massive impact on our lives since their invention almost sixty years ago. However, there are many applications where their cost, fragility and time to market mean they are not viable. For such applications, a new disruptive technology is emerging which could ultimately have an even bigger impact to humankind than silicon had. This is the ability to print electronics and electronic components, using inks and conventional printing techniques. "
"What if you could
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CHANGES MADE TO WORKING TIME REGULATIONS
The Government has unexpectedly laid regulations before Parliament to remove the exemption for partly-unmeasured working time under regulation 20(2) of the Working Time Regulations 1998.
"Regulation 20(2) concerned workers whose working time was only partly measured or predetermined. Any further work done by the worker that was not measured or predetermined, or which could be determined by the worker himself, did not count towards the limits on weekly working time and night work.<BR> The European Court of Ju
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Supposedly the construction
materials of the future, composites are increasingly seen in
applications where optimum efficiency is paramount including
aircraft construction and renewable energy. As two research
examples show in this video, composites really are the future
for efficiency.
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