We’re kicking off the week at Squirrel News talking about how a Danish city is successfully encouraging coffee cup recycling thanks to cash rewards, the UK Labour party’s backing of a £15m scheme to redistribute surplus food from farms, and a blood test for endometriosis showing promising trial results.
Danish city offers cash incentives for coffee cup recycling – and it’s working
In January 2023, Aarhus introduced a three-year pilot programme aimed at reducing disposable coffee cup waste. The scheme lets residents deposit used cups in machines, earning a small reward in return. The approach targets single-use beverage cups, which typically have a lifespan of just 15 minutes before being discarded.
Labour backs plans for £15m fund to distribute surplus food from farms
Grants starting from £20,000 will be handed to the not-for-profit food redistribution sector in England to repackage farm food and deliver it to homeless shelters, food banks and charities. They can also use the funds to buy equipment to collect and process bulky food items, technology to help farms and charities work together and IT training for staff.
Blood test for endometriosis in sight after promising trial results
An Australian medtech firm is on track to release the world’s first blood test for endometriosis within the first half of the year. Recent peer-reviewed trial results showed the test’s diagnosis rate, correctly identifying severe cases with 99.7% accuracy – even amongst patients with similar symptoms but without the disease.
Sites without sound: Oslo leads in quiet, low-emission electric construction
The Norwegian capital’s sites were 98% free of fossil fuels last year, and it aims to increase use of electric machinery. For locals and builders, the drop in decibels is a welcome side-effect of a goal to keep city-managed construction projects free from toxic emissions. The mandate, which is the first of its kind in the world, came into effect on 1st January.
Barcelona sees improved air quality for second consecutive year
Thanks to a rise in public transport use and a decrease in polluting vehicles, Barcelona has seen its lowest recorded levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), a major traffic-related pollutant.
Record number of electric cars were sold in UK during 2024
The number of new cars sold in the UK rose by 2.6% in 2024 to 1.95m, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders lobby group. Of those, 19.6% were electric, up from 16.5% a year earlier.
Students launch laundry bus to bring clean clothes, dignity to the homeless
Flowing with Blessings – a nonprofit dedicated to supporting homeless people – has taken a creative step toward addressing the issue of hygiene poverty: their Mobile Laundry Bus offers free laundry services, showers, and clean clothing to those in need.
The woman who created an ‘aidbot’ to support displaced people in Lebanon
Amid the chaos of last autumn’s Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, mechanical engineer Hania Zataari decided to turn her experience into action: Zataari developed a WhatsApp chatbot designed to make access to aid easier for those displaced by the crisis.
Thanks to the Repair Together initiative, women from a wide variety of backgrounds and professions are developing construction skills to repair – or build from scratch – homes in war-affected areas. With over 4,000 volunteers united in their mission, these teams are clearing debris and rebuilding communities from the ground up.
Nestled in the heart of the Arctic, Svalbard is under the constant threat of avalanches. To counter this danger, the community has turned to tech – like ultrasonic snow depth detectors – and teamed up with the University of Svalbard to create physical barriers to prevent snow from reaching communities.