27/02/2012 By Peter Brooks
After a fantastic year in 2011 Office Water Coolers is looking forward to another great year and this means installing a lot of water coolers in a lot of offices and schools. But as concerns rise over the possibility of a double dip recession with continuing austerity and cut backs we stand by our belief that the office water cooler should most definitely remain on the ‘invaluable’ list when savings are being discussed.
But it seems that these hard times are causing some unscrupulous people to go to terrible lengths to make a few quid. The slowdown in global economic growth has seen a rise in commodity prices which is being fuelled by an increase in the value of raw materials like copper and lead. The government announced only today that they were going to crack down on the £5bn a year scrap metal industry with tougher regulation which could likely mean a banning of cash being used in metal transactions, something the industry strongly opposes. Many groups believe the continuing existence of unregulated cash transactions in an industry worth billions is fostering criminality.
Thames Water, which recently stated that it is losing £1.2m a year in metal theft, is fighting back though by using some truly remarkable technology. Smart Water is water that has been chemically coded allowing its traces to show up under UV light. Think of it like an invisible and indelible mark, much like that used on some expensive electronic equipment, but through the wonders of modern science, encoded into the water itself. This has no effect on the taste or safety of the water but allows Thames Water’s chemically coded liquid to leave its trace on the stolen piping.
Many scrap dealers are now arming themselves with UV lights to avoid taking on this illegally sourced metal making life very difficult for the thieves. Good news, not only for the utility companies, but for their customers too (that’s all of us).
Will the wonders of modern technology never cease?
© 2012 Office Water Coolers
Consider this; recycling a single large plastic bottle (made
from PET) conserves enough energy to light a 60 watt bulb for 6 hours. The National
Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) reported that in 2010 1.5
billion pounds of PET was recycled in America.
Recycled PET (rPET) can be made into all sorts of things like car parts,
playground equipment, carpet or even clothing.
Now consider this; in America (and I daresay the figures are
not that dissimilar in the UK) plastic bottles ...
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Good news for the bottled water industry as it reports a 2.8%
increase in sales in 2011 (1.8 billion litres). As an industry that employs two
thousand people it is good news in these economically trying times as the UK officially
enters a double dip recession. So with unemployment remaining high and when
people are cutting back on so much, saving their pennies, why does the bottled
water industry grow when compared to 2010.
Well it seems there are a lot of other factors at play.
UK households ...
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Flamboyant Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, has started
announcing more price caps as part of his government’s Law of Fair Prices,
passed back in November 2011. The law was designed to limit what is seen as
excessive profiteering on 19 household goods and groceries but is now being
expanded as the government announce new prices for different products and it is
starting with bottled water and deodorant.
The books of over 16,000 companies have been examined by
the Venezuelan government so far ...
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What is polyethylene terephthalate? Well chances are you’ve
encountered it already today if you’ve swigged from a bottle of water or any of
a whole range of bottled drinks. Abbreviated to PET, polyethylene terephthalate
is probably most associated with the packaging for plastic bottles due to its
properties as an excellent and durable barrier material. The thermoplastic
polymer is part of the polyester family and can exist in both amorphous
(transparent) and as a semicrystalline polymer which ...
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