UK supermarket waste hits new high

Susie Mesure, The Independent 10 Feb 08;

1.6m tonnes of food goes to landfill each year, sustainability watchdog reports

The Government must get tougher with supermarkets if it is to tackle Britain's growing mountain of food waste, a report on Labour's sustainable food policies will warn this week.

The warning comes amid growing concern at the amount of food that ends up as landfill rather than on people's plates. Retailers generate 1.6 million tonnes of food waste each year.

An influential watchdog, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), will condemn targets set by the Government's waste-reduction programme as "unambitious and lacking urgency". It will also say multi-buy promotions are helping to fuel waste and obesity in Britain. Speaking to The Independent on Sunday ahead of the report's publication on Saturday, Tim Lang, SDC commissioner, said it was "ludicrous" that the Government had not pressured retailers into setting tougher targets to cut waste.

Three years ago, the government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) left it up to supermarkets to find voluntary "solutions to food waste" in an agreement dubbed the Courtauld Commitment. "The Government is frankly not using its leverage adequately. It really should toughen up on Courtauld, which must be enforced because this is ludicrous," said Mr Lang, who is also professor of food policy at City University, London.

The 18-month study, which found that "too many supermarket practices are still unhealthy, unjust and unsustainable", said Wrap should adopt a "more aspirational approach to reducing waste in food retail by setting longer-term targets and [supporting] a culture of zero waste".

Richard Swannell, Wrap's director of retail and organic programmes, defended the Courtauld goals, set in 2005. "We couldn't set a target for reducing food waste because we didn't know what the scale of the problem was," he said. Instead, Wrap focused on reducing packaging waste – though even here the SDC report called its progress too slow. Mr Swannell said Wrap intended to unveil targets on cutting food waste by the summer.

The report comes at a critical time for Wrap, which is facing budget cuts of 25 per cent. Last week the body, which is campaigning to get consumers to throw less food away, issued 31 redundancy notices. Steve Webb, Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, attacked the cuts. "It blows a hole in any credibility the Government has on the environment," he said.

A separate study by Imperial College for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, found that supermarkets preferred to throw away food that was approaching its sell-by date rather than mark it down in price. "The cost of staff time is greater than the money made on the reduced items," the research found, citing a supermarket executive who said it cost the chain £11m a year in labour and lost margins to slash prices.

Andrew Simms, author of Tescopoly: How One Shop Came Out on Top and Why it Matters, said: "Supermarkets need to persuade people to be more frugal."

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Best of our wild blogs: 11 Feb 08

ButterflyCircle finds a new Lycaenidae species in Singapore!
more on the butterflies of singapore blog

New exhibits at the Raffles Museum public gallery
rats and frogs and more on the rmbr news blog

TeamSeagrass at Temasek Polytechnic's Project Eco
volunteers bring the seagrasses to the people on the teamseagrass blog

More about the Himalayan Swiftlet
on the bird ecology blog

Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk
photos on the toddycats blog

Knobbly stuff
pondering upon slugs on the budak blog

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Singapore gearing up for more oil refineries

Ronnie Lim, Business Times 11 Feb 08

The EDB edge: Gearing up for more oil refineries, biomed projects
EDB also hoping to tap new growth area of health, wellness and ageing

(SINGAPORE) From more oil refineries and planning for a third biomedical park in Tuas for drug-makers, to securing lifestyle projects like big-name, international wellness centres - that's what EDB assistant managing director Aw Kah Peng and her team of 70 are working on this year.

Singapore's oil refining centre - currently the third largest worldwide, but in danger of losing this position to new emerging hubs like Jamnagar, India - could see new greenfield refinery investments, as well as expansions by existing players, she says.

An influx of downstream petrochemical investments is also expected in the coming six to nine months to make use of feedstocks from the new Shell and ExxonMobil crackers starting up in 2009-2011, the old energy hand at the Economic Development Board adds.

Ms Aw has just this year taken on biomedical sciences in her expanded portfolio, which also covers education, and consumer and professional services as well as energy. She says Singapore is already starting to plan a third biomedical park in Tuas to accommodate new pharmaceutical investors.

This is forward planning, as the spanking-new 188-hectare Biomedical Park 2 is just starting to take in its first tenants, including US healthcare group Abbott, which is building a $450-million plant. The 183-ha Biomedical Park 1 has practically run out of space.

In an interview on what's ahead this year, Ms Aw says that 'there is still a lot of excitement in energy and chemicals, especially with oil prices and demand holding up'.

While ExxonMobil's second cracker, reportedly costing over US$5 billion, was a big catch last year, she said that 'it's hard to tell if there will be no more big bangs this year'.

'While the Middle East is building new greenfield refineries, Asia is where the actual markets are. That's why there is new building like Reliance's,' she said, referring to the Indian refiner's move to double capacity to 1.24 million barrels per day at Jamnagar.

There, another company, Essar Oil, is also tripling its capacity to 700,000 bpd by 2010 - which means that Jamnagar will have over 1.9 million bpd capacity, overtaking long-time refining hubs like Singapore and Rotterdam with around 1.3 million bpd each.

'Is there room for more refineries in Asia? I think so,' she says. 'I think there will be something happening in this sector ... yes, we are talking to some companies for greenfield refining investments, as well as expansions.

'The ones here have also room to upgrade and expand - both in volume and higher specifications ... so this is a sector to watch still.' The refiners here are ExxonMobil, Shell and Singapore Refining Company.

In the biomedical sciences sector, comprising pharmaceuticals, medical technology (devices and instruments) and healthcare services, Ms Aw says: 'We will see good growth in medtech but from a smaller base, and also good growth in pharmaceuticals for the next few years. The latter is because quite a number of projects have been announced in the last one to two years, so we will see hiring and new jobs being created.'

The 'big one' last year was by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis which is building a $1 billion biotechnology facility which will be its biggest single manufacturing investment employing 300 workers, when it is ready, in 2012.

Novartis also represents an interesting change in the technology platform used by industry - to biotechnology, from chemistry earlier - to produce pharmaceuticals, she said.

'The growth is in the biotech platform, or biologics. So that's a new area for us in pharmaceuticals in which we quickly need to build up a base.'

There will also be opportunities in biomedical R&D which Singapore's Biopolis can tap.

'Globally, the industry is facing certain challenges, like how to increase R&D productivity, because the challenge is always in finding new drugs. But if you look at the rate of approval of new drugs by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2007 versus 2006, it's slow. Why? Everybody is making guesses. There were a couple of recalls, people get jittery, and regulators look harder.

'So all these things are coming to play now and it's putting a lot of pressure on the sector ... like how else can they do R&D and how do they bring down manufacturing costs. It can be both an opportunity and cause of concern for Singapore.

'But if the companies increasingly look outwards, rather than try to do everything themselves in the race for productivity, I think they will look to Singapore's Biopolis, which has built up quite a strong reputation because of good R&D, and which is also now focusing on translational (from the laboratory to hospital bed) research.'

In the area of consumer businesses - which Ms Aw says is an interesting segment because of the fast-growing middle class - EDB also covers consumer care companies, those making food and nutrition products like Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson, and even the lifestyle ones.

Health, wellness and ageing is a new growth area which EDB hopes to tap, and here Ms Aw said that 'we are test-bedding ideas, and hopefully by the second half of this year, we can share our thinking and plans in greater detail'.

Lifestyle products and services is another new area pitched at the middle class which is rising in Asia.

'Here, we are talking to quite a number of companies, nutritional and also wellness centres. They are not medical centres but have doctors and nurses on the staff, and help you to treat certain illness and change your lifestyle, like what you eat and how often you exercise ... like the Chopra Centre for Wellbeing in Deer Park, California and the Pritikin Center in Florida. Some are quite impressive, they do research and even have clinicians on their staff.

'By the later part of this year, when we get a better sense, we can start to bring in some projects,' she said.

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Singapore designer eggs with cordyceps

Designer eggs that can boost your health
Locally-made cordycepin egg has 30% less cholesterol
Chen Huifen, Business Times 11 Feb 08

QUALITIES of the rare Chinese herb cordyceps sinensis may now be found in made-in-Singapore eggs, thanks to a new collaboration between a scientist and a farmer.

Homegrown biotech firm AP Nutripharm has partnered local egg producer Chew's Agriculture to come up with a feed for chickens that will give rise to 'designer eggs' containing cordycepin. The substance is a key component in cordyceps sinensis, which is known to contain bio-active compounds that support healthy lung and kidney function, and to have anti-cancer, anti-bacteria and anti-inflammatory properties.

'Initially, our idea was to come up with an alternative chicken feed additive for farmers, who are facing higher feed costs as demand for corn and other raw materials have gone up,' said Nutripharm managing director Mark Xu. 'But the farmers were looking to create eggs with more nutritional value. So we tried over two years and got lucky.'

Started in 2002, Nutripharm had devised a way to cultivate cordyceps sinensis on a large scale, with the aim of meeting the demand for the product. The company owns a patent-approved technology that can cultivate the cordycep sinensis in just 9.5 days - compared with a year if left to nature. Its manufacturing facility in Science Park can produce 1.2 tonnes of the fungus a year. Currently, the ingredients are being used to make cordyceps sinensis supplements for Nature Farm and its own house-brand Nu-V. Recently, it started supplying the ingredient to Chew's Agriculture for use as an additive in chicken feed.

The partners spent two years getting the ratio right for the feed. 'We've had to balance the cost of the eggs, with the nutritional value,' Chew's Agriculture managing director Chew Eng Hoe explained. 'If you add too much of the ingredient, you may get plenty of the cordycepin in the final egg product, but it will be too expensive for the consumer.'

Chew's Agriculture production manager Tan Chee Nam revealed that the cost per egg came up to $9.50 in the first trial. The right combination was only achieved last year, after which the farm decided to dedicate one flock of hens to the new feed for the production of cordycepin eggs.

The cordycepin level in the eggs was verified by the School of Chemical and Life Science laboratory at Singapore Polytechnic. For every 100 grams, there are about 76 milligrams of cordycepin. The cordycepin eggs, which have 30 per cent less cholesterol than normal ones, were introduced in supermarkets last month. At 65 cents an egg, sales have been slow to date but Mr Chew said this was expected for a new product.

Having succeeded with eggs, Nutripharm is now exploring the possibility of using cordyceps sinensis to reduce the feed conversion ratio for meat. In the wake of rising commodity prices, Dr Xu wants to help farmers cut costs by reducing the amount of feed required to produce each kilogramme of meat. There are also plans to manufacture cordycep sinensis soup satchets and energy-boosting drinks.

'In the area of cosmetics, we find that our cordyceps live cells may whiten skin dramatically,' he said. 'We are still testing to confirm the results.'

Nutripharm, formerly known as Auric Pacific Nutritech, is majority owned by DPA Pte Ltd, an investment vehicle of several ex-bankers. Auric Pacific Group has a substantial interest in the company through APG Foods Pte Ltd. Nutripharm expects to be profitable in FY2009.

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The ties that bind Japanese to whales is one of predator and prey

Letter from Dudley Au, Straits Times Forum 11 Feb 08;

THE report, 'The ties that bind Japanese to whales' (ST, Feb 7), is simply that of predator and prey.

I see no emotional ties, as asserted by the writer, unless it falls into the category of a nation consuming whales, where the emotion, if it can be called emotion, resides in the gastronomical satisfaction of eating whales.

We are informed the emotional ties to whales can be seen in a spot overlooking the beach in Nagato City, Yamaguchi prefecture, western Japan.

Here, according to Mr Masayuki Komatsu, there is a temple, spanning the course of a few centuries, where whales are given posthumous names, and, devotees yearly offer prayers to the dead whales; as they do for relatives who have passed on. It appears that throughout Japan there are many plaques and tombs dedicated to whales.

Here, we have a phenomenon which George Orwell called 'double-think', in his apocalyptic book 1984. This consists of holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously and accepting them both. How can one eat a whale and after a satisfying feast offer prayers in a temple for the animal one has consumed, as one does for dead relatives?

I do not think that after eating a relative, the correct thing is to offer prayers for that departed relative and then go on to eat another one and, in continuity, offer prayers also.

The nexus of '...as they do for relatives who have passed on', to the offering of prayers for dead whales, presents a contradictory example, unless one has also eaten the relative, which then substantiates the link.

I do not believe whales cherish the thought of being revered (with offertory prayers) after being killed and eaten. I believe they would rather live a peaceful life at sea without some whaler trying to end their lives prematurely.

The ties that bind Japanese to whales, to reiterate, is one of predator and prey, pure and simple.

If you are going to eat the whale, eat it; enjoy yourself, but do not speak in double-think, for it insults trenchant thought.

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'Rat-flood' destroys crops in Bangladesh

150,000 people affected by rodent plague: Aid workers
Today Online 11 Feb 08;

DHAKA — Thousands of people in remote south-east Bangladesh are facing famine after a plague of rats destroyed their crops, forcing families to rely on dwindling food stocks, officials said.

The flowering of bamboo forests for the first time in 50 years in areas along the border with India has led to a "rat flood" — as rodents feeding on bamboo blossoms, rice stalks and vegetables have thrived.

"The rat invasion has turned hilly plantation areas into scorched earth," Mr Prosenjit Chakma, a senior aid official with the United Nations Development Programme said on Saturday after a visit to the Chittagong Hills Tracts.

"A localised famine is going on in the worst-affected areas like Sajek, Farua and Bilaichhari," Mr Chakma told AFP.

Bamboo forests first began blossoming last year in Lusai Hills in the neighbouring Indian state of Mizoram, prompting authorities there to declare it a disaster zone after rats ate food stocks.

The problem spread to nearby remote border villages in Bangladesh's hill districts and now stretches more than 300km.

Aid workers said the influx of rodents had affected 150,000 people in three of the districts. "Whatever they try to grow is devoured within hours by hundreds of thousands of rats," said Mr Auronendo Tripura, spokesman for the Rangamati Hill Council.

Locals said the plague occurred once every 50 to 60 years, with the last such disaster in 1958. — AFP

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China storms fuelling debate on grain import policy

Business Times 11 Feb 08;

Will Beijing finally soften its resistance to imports?

(BEIJING) As China begins to thaw from its worst winter weather in a century, grain traders face a vexing question that may determine the course of prices this year: Will Beijing finally soften its long-standing resistance to imports?

Some say yes, the world's fastest-growing major economy will be forced to tap global markets for corn and wheat, driving already record prices to higher highs and spurring further food inflation.

Others say no. Quite apart from Beijing's commitment to a high degree of 'grain security' to protect itself in the event of an international crisis, the melting snows could well boost grain production this year in water-short China, they say.

At the very least, uncertainty over the impact of the blizzards is fuelling debate on the merits of a self-sufficiency policy that is in any case contentious given that rising incomes are stoking demand for meat and dairy products.

'In the near term, unless you can drastically increase agricultural yields, I think China will probably have to import more grain, especially feedgrain,' said Jing Ulrich, China equities chairman of JP Morgan.

The economics of food has already caused a big policy shift.

China was a net exporter of corn, rice and wheat in 2007, but worries over surging food inflation spurred the government to remove import taxes, raise export taxes and impose export quotas on grains and flour in late December.

China is the world's biggest importer of soybeans, which it uses mainly for animal feed, and Ms Ulrich said it could become a net importer of corn as early as 2008 as demand for meat grows.

But she added: 'We don't need to be alarmist about China buying a huge amount. This will be incremental, a story that is played out over the next 10-15 years.'

According to forecasts by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris and the Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome, China is likely to import a bit more than 12 million tonnes of grain in 2016, just over 4 per cent of total world imports of around 284 million tonnes.

'In general, I would definitely not agree that China will starve the world through significant increases in grain imports,' said Andrzej Kwiecinski, an agriculture expert at the OECD.

Dong Tao with Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, though, said the short-term impact from an increase in marginal demand from a country with 1.3 billion people could be substantial. Food accounts now for about only one per cent of China's total imports.

'We ... believe that the storms will force China into the global soft commodities markets in 2008, potentially having a major impact on soft commodity prices and global inflation,' he said in a report.

Benchmark Chicago Board of Trade wheat prices have been soaring to record highs after doubling over the past eight months as investors bet global demand for US shipments will remain strong this year, regardless of the economic outlook.

Corn prices have surged past US$5 a bushel, two and a half times the price in early 2006, as agricultural goods took over pole position in the commodity market's multi-year bull run\. \-- Reuters

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Unique runway over reclained land in Madeira

Runway on Stilts
The New Paper 11 Feb 08;

'a unique runway expansion project of supported concrete over reclaimed land, sensitive to environmental and aesthetic considerations'

ONCE it was too short, too dangerous.

When storms and strong winds hit the island of Madeira in Portugal, the Funchal Airport often had to close its runway at short notice.

The 1.6km-long runway could only take small and medium aircraft, which hampered the island's development as a tourist destination.

But the situation changed in 2003.

That year, the airport authorities completed a runway expansion project which saw the existing runway extended to 2.8km through an innovative design.

Now, visitors to the island find themselves landing on a runway that is partially built on pillars and running across a shallow water bay.

The innovative airport runway even won an award from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering in 2004.

It was described as being 'a unique runway expansion project of supported concrete over reclaimed land, sensitive to environmental and aesthetic considerations'.

The runway extension is supported by 180 pillars, each 3m in diameter and some reaching 50m in height.

It is around 1km long and 180m wide, and is designed to bear the landing impact of a plane as heavy as the Boeing 747.

There is also a huge car park tucked underneath the runway.

Naturally blessed with a pleasant climate, ambience and scenery, Madeira is an attractive tourist destination, located off the south coast of Portugal.

Part of a sprawling archipelago, the island is often described by the locals as the 'floating garden' for its stunning scenery and spectacular landscape of mountains and cliffs.

It's also known as the hometown of Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo.

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UAE starts work on world's first zero-carbon city

Yahoo News 10 Feb 08;

The UAE has the world's largest ecological footprint, consuming more natural resources per capita than any other nation, according to a 2004 report by the World Wide Fund for Nature.

The oil-rich United Arab Emirates was set to start work on Sunday on construction of the world's first zero carbon emissions city, a spokesman for the project said.

"Construction on Masdar City begins today," the spokesman told AFP, adding that the 6.5-square-kilometre (2.5-square-mile) development will cost 22 billion dollars and is set for completion in 2015.

Masdar City will house 50,000 people and will be run entirely on renewable energy including solar power, exploiting the desert state's near constant supply of sunshine.

The city, which is named after the Arabic word for "source", will be built in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi. Residents will use electric-powered travel pods to move around the city.

The UAE sits on the world's fifth largest oil reserves and fourth largest gas reserves, most of them in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Proven oil reserves alone are expected to last for another 150 years but, like most oil-producing countries, the UAE wants to diversify to ease its reliance on oil.

The UAE has the world's largest ecological footprint, consuming more natural resources per capita than any other nation, according to a 2004 report by the World Wide Fund for Nature.


Work starts on Gulf 'green city'
BBC Online 10 Feb 08;

Abu Dhabi has started to build what it says is the world's first zero-carbon, zero-waste car-free city.

Masdar City will cost $22bn (£11.3bn), take eight years to build and be home to 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses.

The city will be mostly powered by solar energy and residents will move in travel pods running on magnetic tracks.

Abu Dhabi has one of the world's biggest per capita carbon footprints and sceptics fear Masdar may be just a fig leaf for the oil-rich Gulf emirate.

Others fear Masdar City - on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi City - may become a luxury development for the rich.

The project is supported by global conservation charity, the WWF.

Less power, less water

The city will make use of traditional Gulf architecture to create low-energy buildings, with natural air conditioning from wind towers.

Water will be provided through a solar-powered desalination plant, Masdar says. The city will need a quarter of the power required for a similar sized community, while its water needs will be 60% lower.

The city forms part of an ambitious plan to develop clean energy technologies.

In January, the government of Abu Dhabi announced a $15bn five-year initiative to develop clean energy technologies, calling it "the most ambitious sustainability project ever launched by a government".

As part of the plan, Abu Dhabi will become home to the world's largest hydrogen power plant.

The money is being channelled through the Masdar Initiative, a company established to develop and commercialise clean energy technologies, and Abu Dhabi hopes it will lead to international joint ventures involving much more money.

Abu Dhabi will invest $4bn of equity in the project and borrow some of the rest, Masdar said.

"We are creating an array of financial vehicles to finance the $22bn development," Masdar chief executive officer Sultan al-Jaber told Reuters news agency.

"We will monetise all carbon emission reductions... Such innovative financing has never been applied to the scale of an entire city."

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