Table of Contents
March/20
We have started the journey of building our electrical MVP
Colin is putting together the electronics for our auto weighing devices.
We caught up with him this week and he said: “I’m hoping to have a device calibrated within the next few days. The first step is a scaled down model checking all the electronics and the following model would be proper prototype.”
Images reveal Iceland’s glacier melt down
A photography project has highlighted the extent of ice loss from Iceland’s glaciers.
A team from Scotland and Iceland compared photographs taken in the 1980s with present-day drone images. They focused on the south side of the Vatnajökull ice cap, which covers about 7,700sq km of land.
Dr Kieran Baxter, from the University of Dundee, said: “We saw a staggering difference in a very short amount of time.”
“Green” alternatives to throwaway plastics don’t always break down in sea water.
Sunlight helps break down plastics through a process called photo-oxidation, in which the plastic becomes weathered and brittle, eventually fragmenting rather than breaking down to its organic components.
“That doesn’t actually mean it’s breaking down into its most natural counterparts of carbon and hydrogen, it just means they’re becoming smaller pieces,” says Napper. “Which you could argue is more problematic because you can’t clean up – it’s like trying to pick up Smarties with chopsticks.”
Earth Day: What is it and how do people mark it around the world?
Earth Day: What is it and how do people mark it around the world?
Earth Day has now reached its 49th year, and according to the Earth Day Network (EDN) over one billion people in 192 countries are thought to have taken part in this year’s event.
Celebrated every year on April 22, the global day of environmental action is thought to be the largest secular observance in the world.
Each Earth Day, individuals and organisations from across the globe participate in action intended to world towards a healthier environment for future generations.
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Juggling your Hospitality Business to survive
the Corona Virus
by Jess Fishburn and Colin Higgs/23rd-March-2020
The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall
Lost Gardens found in the Heligan estate reclaimed!
A genuine secret garden, the once-thriving Heligan estate was lost for decades under dense undergrowth until a door to one of the walled gardens was discovered by accident in 1990. An award-winning restoration project followed and you can now explore 200 acres of subtropical gardens, ancient woodland and a jungle filled with strange and marvellous plants and trees.
WRAP launches £1.5m fund to support textiles waste-busting projects
New funding from WRAP to help organisations tackle the UK’s textile waste mountain
Waste advisory body WRAP has this week launched a new £1.5m grant fund to support projects that provide innovative ways for textile waste to be recycled or re-used, keeping it out of landfill or incineration so that it remains a valuable resource.
The cash, which is part of Defra’s £18m Resource Action Fund, will enable grants of between £20,000 and £170,000 for both commercial and not-for-profit organisations.
Beachside cafes in Cornwall become the first in the UK to ditch plates for eco-friendly alternatives
A local Cornwall restaurant has replaced plates with eco-friendly palm leaves.
An article explaining how an eco-friendly serving alternative for a chain of restaurants in Cornwall is tackling waste issues. ‘The move to palm plates not only gives the low-income Indian families, which provide the palm, a financial benefit but the areca palm, indigenous to India, is naturally environmental as it has already fallen from the tree and is not harvested.’
GreenKode co-founder James Tang is using Amazon Web Services (AWS) to build his web solution
by James Tang/30th-March-2020
Latest Coronavirus Information: 30.03.20
The business stress of dealing with the Coronavirus is overwhelming, what steps can we take to ease the strain on the hospitality businesses
Where can you find resources available to support you during this time?
A survey of Cornish businesses has found that 40 per cent fear they will not last another month. Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) commissioned the study to call on the government to speed up how quickly it gets the promised support to businesses.
A package of measures is available to support businesses including:
- Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
- Self-employment Income Support Scheme
- deferring VAT and Income Tax payments
- a Statutory Sick Pay relief package for SMEs
- a 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England
- small business grant funding for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief
- grant funding for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
- the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
- the HMRC Time To Pay Scheme
Petition for further Government support for UK Hospitality Industry
Alex Claridge, Chef Owner of The Wilderness, has set up a petition for the government to take responsibility and formally close venues if that is what is actually required, instead of effectively doing so without taking ownership.
The Coronavirus is a challenge and a tragedy in equal measure for this country, and we know how real the threat is to societies most vulnerable. Those in hospitality wish to play our part in protecting those who need it and assisting in any way possible to see the country through these dark times.
That said the UK governments total lack of responsibility for the hospitality industry is unacceptable. The hospitality industry is the third-largest industry in the UK with many jobs at stake. In choosing to not officially close restaurants, bars, hotels and other venues and instead putting the onus on consumers and business owners is both a dangerous and cowardly decision.
The petition is asking for:
- A clear support – financial and practical – laid out by the government for both staff and business owners alike
- A decision from the government – because if we take the decision to close any form of insurance is no longer an option
- Clarity for guests to ensure their safety
- Transparency on timeline so businesses can prepare logistically and rationally for times ahead
Restaurant Flooded With Business After Launching an ‘Adopt a Doc or Nurse’ Catering Service
Some positive news, and potential business and community opportunity during the global pandemic…
A California restaurant has found a compassionate way of keeping their business open while simultaneously caring for hospital staffers fighting the novel coronavirus outbreaks.
Since Tootsie’s owner Rocco Scordella launched his ingenious “Adopt a Doctor or Nurse” programme earlier this month, community members have commissioned his restaurant to prepare and serve more than 2,000 meals to various hospital departments in the area.
Not only has his catering programme been helping to feed hospital personnel during the COVID-19 outbreaks, the influx in business has also helped Scordella to rehire a number of staffers who he had been forced to lay off at the start of the shutdowns.
