• Cadbury have reduced their packaging on some of their waster egg products, but have they done enough considering the transport emission issues surrounding their plans to move their production to Poland.
• The Lickey Hills conservation workday was attended by Emma and Natalia who give their view on the future of the site.
• Kimberley gives a status update on the water pollution issues found in the British rivers and lakes. Many, which are so polluted that drinking the water could eventually kill you.

You can listen or subscribe to our podcast from the podcasting page or you can download the audio file directly to your computer.

With more attendance than anticipated and with a royal guest in form of Deputy Lord Mayor Randal Bre, the opening of The Northfield eco-centre was a success.

Take a look at some of the posts from the recent weeks, and let us know what you think.

Car Scrap Schemes

• Apr. 18 by Stacey Spencer

Motorists may soon be able to exchange their old cars for new cars.

Northfield Ecocentre opens with a bang

• Apr. 18 by Georgie Campbell

The Northfield Ecocentre enjoyed its grand opening, with a royal guest, Deputy Lord Mayor Randal Brew planting the first of many fruit trees.

Birmingham fails to act on the Earth Hour campaign

• Apr. 19 by Georgie Campbell

As the rest of the world celebrated the global “switch off” campaign, the West Midlands seemed less than enthused to join in.

Woodland Trust’s Tree for All campaign

• Apr. 19 by Katie Graczyk

Attempting to plant 12 million trees between the years of 2004-2009, The Woodland Trust created a big challenge, but already has been successful.

Birmingham Recycled Episode 3: Dave Harte

• Apr. 21 by Kasper Sorensen

The Energy and fuel reporters Georgie Cambpell, Oliver Appleby, Joe Chapman and Andrew Nichol talks to Dave Harte about his Act on CO2 campaign.

RWM Seminars aim to help industry and environment in times of crisis

• Apr. 22 by Rebekah Douglas

RWM are preparing for seminars relating to the Exhibition in September which will take place at the NEC, Birmingham.

UK eco-villages

• Apr. 22 by Katie Graczyk

I searched one of my social networks, Greenerpeople, and found some comments about an eco-village in Cornwall/eco-villages in general.

Birmingham Shines in Clean Britain Awards

• Apr. 24 by Alice Tidey

Birmingham was recognised for the cleanliness of its city centre in a national competition.

The group talks about how to specifically save money on your electricity bill by monitoring your different devices. The Act on CO2 campaign is focused on individuals, but Dave has some quite interesting ideas on how you could use all the data in a collaborative way.

Walking tours of Birmingham is a concept Dave Harte came up with when working on the Act on CO2 campaign. The reporters ask Dave if you could use the Birmingham tours as an alternative way of getting tourists around birmingham instead of using public transport.

You can listen or subscribe to our podcast from the podcasting page or you can download the audio file directly to your computer.

There has been a few interesting stories on the site this week including our second Birmingham Recycled podcast, a 25 minute interview with Chris Unitt about a possible solution to climate change.

So if you haven’t had the chance to catch up with the environmental news this week, here are some of the most popular stories from the recent week.

Government urged to tackle greenwash

• Apr. 1 by Natalie Adcock

A report released this week claims that a clear system of environmental labelling is needed to tackle the growing problem of greenwash, the deceptive use of promotion concerning how environmentally friendly products are.

Public like litter fine cutback

• Apr. 5 by Natalie Adcock

Birmingham Recycled have discovered that the public are happy with the news released this week that Sandwell Council are proposing to cut litter fines because of the recession.

Podcast Episode 2: Cquestrate

• Apr. 6 by Kasper Sorensen

Chris Unitt from Birmingham, who was involved in the online launch of the Cquestrate project, is talking to the Technology group about a possible solution to climate change.

IKEA: using green credentials for good publicity?

• Apr. 6 by Lucas Coe

IKEA have come under increasing criticism from environmental agencies in the UK and abroad, because of glaring failings and hypocrisy in their green credentials.

Disney works with The Woodland Trust

• Apr. 6 by Katie Graczyk

Disney is working with the Woodland Trust of the UK to raise money, awareness, and create a 50 acre wood ( to be titled “The Magical Wood”) within already existing 858 acre Heartland Forest in Hertfordshire (near St Albans).

Cquestrate is the brainchild of Tim Kruger and the idea is broken down into two parts.

• First, you heat limestone to a very high temperature, until it breaks down into lime and carbon dioxide.
• Then you put the lime into the sea, where it reacts with carbon dioxide dissolved in the seawater.

The project is still in its early stages, research is still being commissioned and a lot of questions are still to be addressed. Chris has first hand experience with the project and is answering question from the four members of Birmingham Recycled; Anthony Dosanjh, Lucas Coe, Stacey Spencer and Kirsty Booth.

You can listen or subscribe to our podcast from the podcasting page or you can download the audio file directly to your computer.

Saturday was Earth Hour and I’m happy to say that we got a few features in the pipeline to follow up on this event. In the meantime, enjoy some of the stories from the recent week.

Earth hour: An idiots guide

• Mar. 28 by Oliver Appleby

Tonight at 8:30PM your street may be a little darker than usual, that’s because today marks the 3rd annual ‘Earth Hour’, a simple event dedicated to switching off the lights in your town, city or street to aid and highlight needless energy consumtion and help save OUR planet just that little bit.

Podcast Episode 1: Waste & Recycling

• Mar. 30 by Kasper Sorensen

The Waste & Recycling team; Alice Tidey, Chloe Botting, Rebekah Douglas and Katie Wood discusses carrier bags, littering in the streets and recycling around Birmingham.

Government urged to tackle greenwash

• Apr. 1 by Natalie Adcock

A report released this week claims that a clear system of environmental labelling is needed to tackle the growing problem of greenwash, the deceptive use of promotion concerning how environmentally friendly products are.

Bike Week 2009

• Apr. 2 by Emma Williams

”Bike Week”, the UK’s largest mass participation cycling event has been launched to take place this year from Saturday 13^th – Sunday 21^st June.

A local Asda store advertised that they might start to charge for carrier bags. Some stores are already taking these measures, Alice asks whether it’s a good idea or not.

The team talks about the governments plans to fine people who spread litter in the streets. It has been suggested that CCTV will be used to catch people and give them a fine on the spot but no criminal record. Is that taking ot too far?

Birmingham have recently seen plans for a new nappy recycling plant as well as other plants around the city. Is Birmingham doing enough for recycling and where can we improve?

You can listen or subscribe to our podcast from the podcasting page or you can download the audio file directly to your computer.

Editorial we feel we are ready to move forward and raise the bar. We have started playing with the idea of putting more effort into investigations rather than simply news. We have been busy producing podcasts which will be released during the coming weeks. Last but not least, you can now subscribe to our newsletter and get this weekly roundup in your inbox every week.

Recycling in schools should be compulsary

• Mar. 19 by Sanjay Dass

Not much is being to encourage recycling in schools.

Currently, classes on recycling are not being built into the school timetable. However annoyed parents feel as though recycling classes should be made compulsory.

Worlds fastest all-electric motorbike revealed

• Mar. 19 by zara bokhari

The TTX01 bike was made to order by the organisers of the Worlds first emmisions free grand prix for motorbikes which is held in june on the Isle on Man.

Russia Ban Seal Hunting

• Mar. 20 by Kimberley Gammon

The Russian government has finally taken action against seal baiting and have banned the hunting of baby harp seals.

Coal Caravan rolling through East Midlands, Yorkshire and North East

• Mar. 20 by Katie Graczyk

When looking on the Climate Camp 2009 website, you’ll find the Coal Caravan event happening from April 24-May 4, 2009. This event is run through Climate Camp. Climate Camp’s aims are:

Green careers and volunteer opportunities in the UK!

• Mar. 21 by Katie Graczyk

Have you ever considered a career in the environmental area or wanted to volunteer for a green event but didn’t know where to start?

Go Green at this years Pride Festival

• Mar. 11 by zara bokhari

After succesfully gaining backing from the Environment Agency this years annual Pride festival held in Birmingham is going from its tradional pink to a green colour scheme.

Lickey Hills Conservation Day letdown: no publicity, no people

• Mar. 11 by Natalie Adcock

Only two members of the public attended the Lickey Hills Conservation Workday on Sunday 8^th March.

The Bullring Goes Green

• Mar. 12 by Alina Bokhari

As we all fall into the era of recycling along with all the other green issues we try to compromise, we don’t need to notice how the surroundings in which we living adapt to these new commitments.

Perry Barr combats carbon emissions

• Mar. 14 by Georgie Campbell

A Perry Barr car dealership is set to hold energy saving lessons next week to encourage drivers to reduce their carbon footprints.

Great Barr’s Green Lane reduces energy use in national challenge

• Mar. 14 by Joseph Chapman

Green lane of Great Barr has cut its gas and electricity bills by nearly 25% this year in British Gas’s Green Streets challenge.

Wheelie Bins Bring Down Waste Production

• Mar. 15 by zara bokhari

Soon residents of Birmingham will find their waste disposal troubles reduced with the introduction of new wheelie bins.

The Eco Friendly Porsche

• Mar. 17 by Stacey Spencer

Car manufacturer’s ‘Porsche‘ make their first gas-electric hybrid.

Birmingham Government encourage environmental education

• Mar. 19 by Alina Bokhari

Birmingham primary schools are being encouraged to promote a healthy environment.

Eco Homes In Birmingham

• Mar. 19 by Stacey Spencer

The ‘Improvement For Sale Project’ and ‘South Lozells Eco Programme‘ are refurbishing homes into ‘eco homes’ in Handsworth and South Lozells. Its main area being South Lozells.

The eco-warriors had the great idea of giving live blogging a try. Equipped with their mobile phones, they were able to keep users updated throughout the day by sending messages directly to their twitter feed.

In an attempt to make it easier for user not on twitter, we combined their feeds into one and featured them here on the site in real time. Underneath are, in reversed chronological order, all the messages sent by the reporters throughout the day.

If you followed along or have any feedback regarding this experiment, please let us know in the comments.

1. Natalie Adcock: Heading back for a cup of tea. Been an enjoyabale day!
2. Natalie Adcock: Made a big pile of cut wood but feeling drops of rain again now
3. Natalie Adcock: Fantastic view of birmingham from here!
4. Natalie Adcock: Note to self. Don’t cut the endangered plant.
   
5. Natalie Adcock: Would anyone be interested in joining us on another day?
6. Natalie Adcock: Possibility night be called cause of rain. Waiting ten mins.
7. Emma Williams: The heath is looking much clearer now. Going back in the warm before it rains again!
8. Emma Williams: Lots of plastic bags and crisp packets around the lickey hills.
9. Emma Williams: Makin good progress cutting the trees down!
10. Emma Williams: We are cutting down unwanted trees to save endangered plants like heather and moss
11. Emma Williams: The lickey hills heathland used to be more than 600 acres, its now down to just 60 acres
12. Emma Williams: Going to heathland, a habitat more threatened than rainforests
13. Emma Williams: We are now getting kitted with yellow anoraks to protect from the rain..attractive!
14. Emma Williams: Lickey hills suggested getting a group of BCU students together for a conservation workday for #bhamrecycled
15. Emma Williams: Off to lickey hills and its just started raining! Typical.