Green news in brief

The first nationwide campaign to urge people to switch off their non-essential electrical appliances overnight will be launched on October 20. The day has been declared Standby Saturday.

But why just switch them off on one night of the year, when you could do it all the time? Standby power can count for as much as 10 per cent of national residential electrical use. Go to standbysaturday.com

• The Highways Agency has published new guidelines to encourage a greener approach to road building on sites of potential historic interest.

The guidance is drawn up with the help of independent landscape and heritage bodies. It aims to help engineers, planners and environmental specialists assess the impact of road schemes and help them to integrate with the environment by taking account of archaeology, the natural world and topography.

• Environmental campaigners are calling on fast food restaurants, gyms and leisure centres to provide more recycling facilities.

Greenpeace and the Green Party say businesses which sell goods in cartons, bottles and cans should make sure recycling is available nearby.

There is also a call for more reverse vending machines, where people can drop off used bottles and cans for recycling while buying drinks.

• A survey for BBC's Countryfile magazine has discovered while many people boast of their green credentials, when it comes to food shopping, cost and convenience are more important than environmental issues.

A third of those surveyed said they were more concerned about the price, rather than whether the food was organic or low on air miles.

• Greenpeace has praised a 2p rise in fuel tax which will bring the cost of petrol to nearly £1 a litre.

The tax rise, announced in this year's budget, came into effect on October 1 and brings the average cost of a litre of unleaded fuel to 99.7p.

A Greenpeace spokesman said: "This will encourage people to buy more fuel efficient cars."

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