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The Sustainable Futures Report


Welcome to the Sustainable Futures Report, a weekly podcast on all things sustainable.

You can find the text with links to sources at sustainablefutures.report.

Show your support at patreon.com/sfr

 

Jun 7, 2019

This week’s episode is about even more rubbish. Patron Shane suggested we look at electronic rubbish and there’s certainly a story to tell there. We’ll also look at plastic waste, and I warn you none of it is good news. Talking of rubbish, I started writing this on one of Northern Rail’s Pacer trains stranded for over an hour in deepest Yorkshire by cows on the line. Not seen in the south of England for many years, these were built very cheaply in the 80s out of bus parts. They are now 20 years beyond their design life and due to be withdrawn later in 2019. Of course there’s no wifi and no socket to plug the charger into; not even a table to balance the laptop on. I’m a staunch believer in reduce, reuse, recycle, but surely there are limits. Having said that, I hear that once the trains have been withdrawn the government plans to offer them to local communities for use as village halls or community centres. I’m surprised they didn’t suggest food banks or shelters for the homeless. And yes this giveaway idea is absolutely true - there’s a link on the blog. 

Preparation and delivery of this week’s corporate presentations took a lot of time, so that and a 2.5 hour train delay have made this week’s episode late, so apologies for that.  If you need a speaker for your event have at look at me in action. (I don’t always wear that tie.) https://youtu.be/uMBMiVgl3ec