Environmental guidance for your business in Northern Ireland & Scotland
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Environmental Topics
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Air pollution
- Preventing air pollution
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Fluorinated gases (F-gases)
- What are fluorinated gases?
- Phase down of F-gases 2015 – 2030
- Calculating the equipment charge as CO2 equivalent
- Stationary refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps: F-gas controls
- Fire protection equipment
- Mobile air conditioning (cars and vans): F-gas controls
- Solvent cleaning: F-gas controls
- Producing and supplying fluids: F-gas controls
- Specialist uses of F-gases
- How F-gas regulations are enforced
- F-Gas Legislation
- Ozone depleting substances (ODS)
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Solvent emissions
- What are organic solvents
- Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Permits for Solvent emissions
- Why you should monitor your solvent use and emissions
- How to monitor your solvent use and emissions
- Using your solvent emissions data
- Managing your solvents efficiently
- Reducing solvent use in production and cleaning processes
- Recovering and reusing solvents
- Storing and using solvents
- Solvent limits in paints and varnishes
- Solvent limits in vehicle refinishing products
- Solvent emissions environmental legislation
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Reducing vehicle emissions
- Benefits of reducing your vehicle emissions
- Vehicle emissions requirements - what you must do
- Choose transport methods with the least environmental impacts
- Reduce the environmental impact of transport logistics
- Using your vehicles efficiently
- Choose low emissions vehicles
- Use alternative powered vehicles
- Taxes, tax breaks and grants for low-emission vehicles
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Improving air quality
- Air quality
- Air quality for chemical businesses
- Air quality for hair and beauty salons
- Air quality for machinery or electrical equipment businesses
- Ammonia emissions to air from slurry and manure
- Evaporative cooling towers
- Degreasing solvents used in manufacturing
- Energy and steam generation
- Fume hoods or laboratory cupboards
- Furnaces
- Refrigeration and air conditioning
- Solvents and adhesives for leather businesses
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Carbon reduction and efficiency
- Towards a Circular Economy
- Biofuels for transport
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Buying environmentally friendly goods and services
- Benefits of buying sustainable goods and services
- Avoiding unnecessary purchases
- How to make your buying more sustainable
- Buying products and services with environmental labels
- Top tips for buying key goods and services sustainably
- Selecting a sustainable supplier
- Environmentally friendly products and services - further information
- Things to consider when buying goods or services for your business
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Cutting your carbon emissions
- How climate change affects your business
- How to cut carbon emissions from energy use
- How to cut carbon emissions from business travel
- How to cut carbon emissions from business buildings
- How to design low-carbon products
- How to find suppliers of low-carbon products
- Tax breaks to encourage energy efficiency
- Comply with emissions trading requirements
- International climate change projects and the carbon offset market
- How to get involved with Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation projects
- Purchasing carbon offsets
- Combined Heat and Power (CHP) benefits and opportunities for business
- The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme
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Energy Efficiency
- Simple ways to save energy
- How to monitor your energy use
- Create an energy efficient work culture
- Energy efficiency tips for different types of business
- Financing loans and tax incentives for energy efficient equipment
- Energy efficiency: sources of advice and financial help
- Checklist: Using energy efficiently
- Energy labelling and ecodesign of energy-related products
- Environmental tax obligations and breaks
- Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme (ESOS)
- EU Emissions Trading Scheme
- Generate renewable energy
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More about carbon reduction
- Carbon emissions, greenhouse gases
- Eco-schools
- Farming and climate change
- Sustainable procurement practices for education
- Hair and Beauty - reducing environmental impacts
- Innovation and product development - sustainable ways of working
- Building renovation or restoration
- Managing environmental performance
- Providing environmental information to your customers, take back schemes and other initiatives
- Retail and wholesale: managing your environmentl performance
- Cost cutting measures: The savings calculator
- Case Studies and Videos
- Checklists
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Emergency response
- COMAH
- Environmental damage
- Manage flood risk
- Pollution incident response planning
- Firefighting
- Preventing major accidents at Category A facilities
- Retail and wholesale pollution incidents - Spills, leaks and accidents
- Spills on construction sites
- Pollution Incident Response Planning for Golf facilities
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Environmental management
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First steps - guidance for new starts, projects and charities
- Resource efficiency: sources of funding
- Energy efficiency
- Water efficiency
- Construction: materials and fittings
- Waste and waste minimisation
- The circular economy
- Preparing for emergencies
- Enhancing biodiversity
- Storing materials and fuels
- Preventing nuisances
- Prevent air pollution
- Transport issues
- Check if you need an environmental permit
- Resource efficiency - good practice checklist
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Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and environmental reports
- Introduction - What is an EMS?
- What are the benefits of an EMS and what is involved?
- Types of Environmental Management Systems
- How can NetRegs help you implement an EMS?
- Implementing an EMS – getting started
- Why produce environmental reports
- EMS Case study - CMS Window Systems
- EMS Case Study - Ross-Shire Engineering
- Manage your purchases to minimise their environmental impacts
- Management toolkit for SMEs - Northern Ireland
- Management toolkit for SMEs - Scotland
- Manage and improve your environmental performance
- Manage the environmental performance of your golf facility
- Adapt to Climate Change
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First steps - guidance for new starts, projects and charities
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Land
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Contaminated land
- Defining land contamination
- Responsibilities for land contamination
- Preventing land contamination
- Environmental damage caused by land contamination
- Cleaning up contaminated land
- Buying land affected by contamination
- Insuring against the risk of land contamination
- Contaminated land environmental legislation
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Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed and other invasive weeds
- Your legal responsibilities in Northern Ireland
- Your legal responsibilities in Scotland
- Identifying invasive plants
- Reporting non-native species
- How invasive plants spread
- Handling and working with invasive plants
- Spraying invasive plants with herbicide
- Digging up invasive plants
- Cutting and burning invasive plants
- Burying invasive plant material on site
- Disposing of invasive plants and contaminated soils off-site
- Non-native and invasive plants environmental legislation
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Nature conservation
- How conservation and biodiversity relate to your business
- How businesses rely on natural resources and services
- Protected sites and priority habitats
- Protected and priority species
- Non-native species
- Environmental damage to biodiversity
- Managing biodiversity: Establish the baseline
- Managing biodiversity: Create a site action plan
- Managing biodiversity: Measure performance
- Work with other organisations on biodiversity
- Conservation and biodiversity legislation
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Land topics for agriculture
- Actions to help pollinators
- Codes of good agricultural practice
- Cross compliance and agri-environment schemes
- Cultivation
- Land and soil management
- Land management and agri-environment schemes for hunting and shooting businesses
- Northern Ireland: Nitrates action programme and phosphates regulations
- Scotland: Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ)
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Land topics for construction sites
- Archaeology on site
- Dealing with contaminated land on construction sites
- Excavating and installing pipework on a construction site
- Impacts of land contamination on construction work
- Nature conservation and affecting public rights of way for construction sites
- Site investigation and sampling to identify contaminated land
- Soils and soil stripping
- Land managment topics for forestry
- Land topics - biodiversity, land access, rules for hunting, pest control
- Land topics for mining and quarrying businesses
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Contaminated land
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Materials, fuels and equipment
- Batteries regulations
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Packaging and packaging waste
- What is packaging?
- Obligations for packaging design and use -who do they apply to?
- Packaging design and use - your responsibilities
- Packaging design and use - exemptions
- Packaging producer obligations - who do they apply to?
- Producer compliance schemes
- Packaging producers: Individual route
- Reprocessing and export of packaging waste
- Packaging: reduce, reuse and recycle
- Packaging: environmental legislation
- Registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (REACH)
- Chemical storage
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Oil storage
- Who do oil storage control apply to?
- Where to locate your oil storage container
- Requirements for your oil storage container
- Secondary containment systems (Bunding)
- Pipework and fittings for oil storage
- Mobile bowsers for oil and fuel
- Maintaining your oil storage containers
- Prevent pollution: dealing with oil spills
- Oil storage - Further information
- Oil storage environmental legislation
- Pathogens from laboratories and production facilities
- Pesticides and biocides
- Managing Radioactive Substances
- RoHS: Restrictions on hazardous substances
- Materials and equipment for agriculture & animal care
- Materials and equipment used on construction sites
- More materials and equipment topics
- More hazardous materials topics
- Materials used by metal fabrication and finishing businesses
- Nuisances
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Permits, licences and exemptions
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Permits and licences - An overview
- Types of environmental licence
- Pollution prevention and control permits and waste management licences
- Authorisations and consents for discharges
- Trade effluent consents and agreements
- Water abstraction and impoundment authorisations
- Waste carrier, broker and dealer registration
- Hazardous/special waste notifications
- Radioactive substances authorisations
- Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Permits
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PPC Permits by sector
- Does your agriculture business require a PPC permit?
- Does your chemical manufacturing business need a PPC permit?
- Does your education establishment require a PPC permit?
- Does your fabricated metal product business require a PPC permit?
- Does your food and drink business require a PPC permit?
- Does your healthcare business require a PPC permit?
- Does your leather business require a PPC permit?
- Does your life sciences business require a PPC permit?
- Does your machinery or electrical equipment business require a PPC permit?
- Does your metal production or processing business require a PPC permit?
- Does your mineral products business require a PPC permit?
- Does your mining or quarrying business require a PPC permit?
- Does your paper and cardboard business require a PPC permit?
- Does your printing and publishing business require a PPC permit?
- Does your recorded media business require a PPC permit?
- Does your recycling and reprocessing business require a PPC permit?
- Does your retail or wholesale business require a PPC permit?
- Does your road transport business require a PPC permit?
- Does your rubber and plastic business require a PPC permit?
- Does your surface treatment business require a PPC permit?
- Does your textiles and clothing business require a PPC permit?
- Does your vehicle repair business require a PPC permit?
- Does your waste or sewage business require a PPC permit?
- Does your wood or timber business require a PPC permit?
- Waste management licences
- Waste activities by sector
- Does your business need a permit, licence or exemption?
- Contact your environmental regulator
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Waste exemptions by sector
- Waste exemptions for agriculture
- Waste exemptions for chemicals
- Waste exemptions for fabricated metal products
- Waste exemptions for forestry
- Waste exemptions for hunting, shooting and game breeding
- Waste exemptions for landscaping
- Waste exemptions for MEEE
- Waste exemptions at metals production and processing
- Waste exemptions for mining or quarrying
- Waste exemptions for offices
- Waste exemptions for paper and cardboard
- Waste exemptions for recycling and reprocessing
- Waste exemptions for retail and wholesale
- Waste exemptions for road transport
- Waste exemptions for waste and sewage businesses
- Waste exemptions for wood and wood products
- Forestry grants and licences
- Inland fisheries licensing
- Licences and registrations for fish and shellfish farms
- Northern Ireland - Apply for a permit
- Sea fisheries regulators and licencing
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Permits and licences - An overview
- Pollution Prevention Guidelines (PPGs) and replacement series
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Trade associations & BSOs
- Agriculture trade associations
- Animal boarding and care trade associations
- Chemical industry trade associations
- Construction trade associations
- Fabricated metal products trade associations
- Food and drink trade associations
- Forestry trade associations
- Healthcare trade associations
- Hospitality trade associations
- Hunting, shooting and game breeding trade associations
- Landscaping trade associations
- Leather trade associations
- MEEE trade associations
- Metals production and processing trade associations
- Mineral products trade associations
- Mining and quarrying trade associations
- Pest control trade associations
- Printing and publishing trade associations
- Recycling trade associations
- Retail and wholesale trade associations
- Road transport trade associations
- Rubber and plastic trade associations
- Textiles trade associations
- Vehicle repair and maintenance trade associations
- Waste and sewage trade associations
- Wood and wood products trade associations
- Fishing and aquaculture trade associations
- Life sciences useful links
- Education useful links
- Hair and Beauty Trade Associations
- Golf trade associations
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Transport
- Car parking
- Carriage of dangerous goods
- Refrigerated transport and equipment
- Travel plans for education
- Travel plans and green transport for offices
- Vehicle air-conditioning systems
- Vehicle cleaning (including wheel washing)
- Vehicle emissions
- Vehicle movements and deliveries at construction sites
- Vehicle refinishing products
- Useful links
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Waste
- Animal by-products and food waste
- Asbestos
- Burning waste - What you need to know
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Duty of care - Your waste responsibilities
- What is waste?
- What is the duty of care for waste?
- New waste duties for buisnesses in Northern Ireland
- New waste duties for businesses in Scotland
- Who can deal with your waste
- Waste Transfer Notes and how to complete them
- European Waste Catalogue (EWC) - waste codes
- Waste storage
- Controls on specific types of waste
- Landfill waste
- Carrying out waste management activities yourself
- Duty of Care for Waste Legislation
- End of life vehicles (ELVs)
- Fly-tipping
- Import and export of waste
- Operating your landfill site
- Hazardous / special waste
- Reduce, reuse and recycle your business waste
- Waste carriers, brokers and dealers
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WEEE - Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
- Businesses affected by the WEEE Regulations
- Equipment covered by the WEEE Regulations
- Producers of electrical and electronic equipment – What you must do
- Distributors of electrical and electronic equipment – What you must do
- Users of electrical and electronic equipment – What you must do
- Repairing, refurbishing and storing WEEE
- Treating and recycling WEEE
- Exporting WEEE
- Operating a WEEE producer compliance scheme
- Dealing with hazardous WEEE
- WEEE environmental legislation
- Waste site directories
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Storage, handling and transport of waste
- Find a reuse and recycling centre, or waste site, near you
- Receiving hazardous waste or receiving special waste
- Receiving waste or sewage
- Segregation of healthcare or medical waste
- Site Waste Management Plans (SWMP)
- Storing waste, wastewater or sewage
- Transporting mine or quarry waste
- Transporting waste, wastewater or sewage
- Waste management plans for mines or quarries
- Waste & sewage landfill site operators
- Storage & transport of waste
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Managing waste materials
- Accommodation waste
- Agricultural Waste
- Anatomical waste
- Animal by-products from laboratories
- Broken ceramics
- Canteen waste
- Animal carcass, dead animal removal
- Farm animal incineration
- Managing clinical waste
- Managing customer waste at retail and wholesale businesses
- Cytotoxic and cytostatic drugs
- Demolition waste
- Waste dental amalgam fillings
- Disposal of dead animals including pets
- Disposal of waste at sea
- Disposal of waste in ports
- Non clinical waste from healthcare premises
- Fish waste disposal
- Waste and sewage businesses: disposal of sewage sludge
- Waste batteries from your business
- Excavated materials from construction sites
- Extractive waste from mines and quarries
- Fly-tipped rubbish
- Food waste and catering waste
- Waste from forest management
- Waste from hair and beauty salons
- Horse manure
- Laboratory waste
- Slurry, solid manure and silage effluent
- General waste and waste mobile plant at mines and quarries
- Offensive waste
- Pharmaceutical waste
- Sanitary waste
- Scrap metal
- Sewage sludge - Landspreading
- Sharps
- Used tyres, waste tyres
- Disposing of waste by landspreading
- Waste oil, oil disposal
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Waste treatment processes
- Anaerobic Digestion
- Balers, compactors, crumbers, granulators and shredders for waste
- Battery recycling
- Burning construction and demolition waste
- Burning waste oil as fuel
- Burning and burying farm waste
- Chemical recycling for recycling and reprocessing businesses
- Chipping wood & other plant material
- Composting
- Composting catering waste
- Composting green waste
- Composting leachate
- Crushing bricks, tiles, concrete & other materials
- Crushing or grinding waste tiles or other ceramics
- Energy-from-waste at waste or sewage sites
- Oil recycling
- Plastic Recycling
- Quality recycling at MRFs
- Recovering chemical substances from waste
- Recycling construction materials
- Recycling your healthcare business waste
- Recycle & reprocessing scrap metals
- Recycling concrete
- Reducing & recycling waste from CD & DVD production
- Reusing waste cullet in glass manufacture
- Straw & stubble burning
- Treating & recycling waste batteries
- Treating & recycling waste vehicles
- Treating & recycling Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
- Treating hazardous / special waste
- Waste compactors
- Waste incineration plant operated by waste or sewage businesses
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Water
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Preventing water pollution
- Causes of water pollution
- Regulation that protects surface water and groundwater in Northern Ireland
- Regulation that protects surface water and groundwater in Scotland
- Consents and authorisations you will need
- Notices that prevent and control water pollution
- Practical ways you can prevent water pollution
- Drainage system requirements to avoid pollution
- Water pollution legislation
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Septic tanks
- How septic tanks work
- What shouldn't go into a septic tank
- Maintaining your septic tank
- Register your septic tank
- What can go wrong with a septic tank
- New tanks - Planning waste water and sewage treatment
- Treatment of septic tank discharge where no soakaway is possible
- If a septic tank can't be installed on your site
- Septic tank legislation
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Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS)
- What are Sustainable Drainage Systems
- Using Sustainable Drainage Systems
- Green roofs in Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS)
- Filter strips and filter drains in Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) (1)
- Permeable paving in Sustainble Drainage Systems (SuDS)
- Swales in Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) (1)
- Detention basins, ponds and wetlands in Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) (1)
- Construction phase SuDS
- Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) - Further Information
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Trade effluent – Managing liquid wastes
- How to deal with Trade Effluent
- Disposal top a public sewer
- Dealing with effluent that cannot go to foul sewer
- Disposal to land where no public sewer is available
- Disposal to water where no public sewer is available
- Using septic tanks and package treatment plants
- Reducing and treating your trade effluent
- Avoiding spills and unauthorised effluent discharges
- Trade effluent environmental legislation
- Water use and efficiency
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More ways to prevent water pollution
- Acid mine drainage
- Bunds for fuel and chemical storage
- Effluent treatment plant for metal industries
- Controlling surface water runoff from works near water
- Dealing with silty water
- Dewatering your excavations on a construction site
- Preventing water pollution from farm discharges to water
- Discharges to water and sewer
- Drip trays; prevent spills
- Effluent treatement plants for food businesses
- Effluent treatement plants for leather businesses
- Freshwater cages for fish farming
- Golf machinery and equipment washing
- Save water at hair and beauty salons
- Irrigation for young trees
- Managing silt and sediment in discharges from quarries or mines
- Marine cages for fish farming at sea
- Oil separators for use at construction sites
- Groundwater protection during drilling and boring
- Settlement tanks for removing silt from water
- Slurry from construction sites
- Stillwater fisheries
- Swimming and excercise pools
- Wastewater at mineral sites
- Managing wastewater at paper and card manufacturing sites
- Water use and abstraction
- Water based cleaning systems
- Wheel washing at construction sites
- Working close to water for construction businesses
- Working close to water for forestry operations
- Works in water - fisheries
- Working close to watercourses
- Working close to water for landscaping businesses
- Working close to water for golf course managers
- Yard runoff from your business
- Scottish Water by-laws
- Engineering in the water environment
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Preventing water pollution
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Air pollution
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Business Sectors
- Agriculture
- Animal boarding and care
- Chemicals manufacturing
- Construction
- Education
- Fabricated metal products
- Fishing and aquaculture
- Food and drink manufacture
- Forestry
- Golf
- Hair and Beauty
- Healthcare
- Hospitality, leisure and tourism
- Hunting, shooting and game breeding
- Landscaping
- Leather
- Life sciences
- Machinery, electrical equipment and electronics
- Metal production and processing
- Mineral products
- Mining and quarrying
- Offices
- Pest control
- Printing and publishing
- Pulp, paper and cardboard
- Recorded media
- Recycling and reprocessing
- Retail and wholesale
- Rubber and plastic products
- Sewage
- Surface treatment of metals
- Textiles and clothing
- Transport
- Vehicle repair and maintenance
- Waste businesses
- Wood and wood products
- Legislation
- A-Z of jobs
- Tools
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Blog
- NetRegs at Scotland Works and the ENDS Awards
- New developments at NetRegs
- Surplus food redistribution guidance
- One Planet Prosperity - Terry A'Hearn, SEPA CEO
- Construction sites and construction legislation
- Love Food Hate Waste workshops
- How to manage surface water drainage
- Health Care Without Harm
- NetRegs at the Balmoral Show
- River engineering - follow the rules to avoid a fixed monetary penalty
- Sustainable waste management for farmers
- Good to Go – encourage customers to take uneaten food home
- Make sure you are 'Good to Go' this spooky season
- Why you need a green team
- Sustainable farming practices
- Bonfires - What you need to know
- Why food and drink businesses should consider the sustainable supply chain
- Northern Ireland - Derogation in the three-crop rule for Northern Ireland
- Generating your own renewable energy
- Environmental regulations: what they mean for you
- Leftovers are ‘Good to Go’ this Festive Season
- BREXIT 'No Deal' Guidance
- Search
Environmental News Blog
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BREXIT 'No Deal' Guidance, With BREXIT approaching and no sign of a deal there is some uncertainty surrounding what could happen to regulations and legislation.
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Leftovers are ‘Good to Go’ this Festive Season, Our green ‘Good to Go’ scheme lets your customers know that their leftovers can be boxed up and sent home with them to be eaten later by the Christmas tree.
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