They give free chickens to residents to solve the problem of kitchen waste | Environmental Trumpet

Hello everyone, this is the 31st issue of the Environmental Trumpet column. In this issue, we have collected the following environmental research and news worth reading:

1) UK High Court rules that chicken manure is industrial waste

2) Drought and flooding: 15% of the world's major cities are experiencing "climate whiplash"

3) Lego, which produces the most tires in the world, started making tires out of fishing nets

4) A European town gives out free chickens to reduce food waste

UK rules chicken manure is industrial waste

Recently, the UK High Court made a ruling that chicken manure produced by industrial chicken farms is industrial waste and must be treated in accordance with strict environmental protection requirements.

The core background of this judgment is the continued deterioration of the water quality of the River Wye in the UK. The River Wye is about 250 kilometers long and flows through Wales and England. In recent years, the water quality rating has dropped from "poor but improving" to "poor and continuing to deteriorate." Studies have found that agricultural activities in the basin are the main source of pollution, of which about 70% of phosphorus pollution comes from agriculture , and chicken manure is an important factor.

UK Chicken Farming | NFU

In intensive chicken farms, chicken manure contains high concentrations of phosphorus. For a long time, local farmers have applied chicken manure as fertilizer to farmland. However, excess phosphorus will seep into the soil with rainwater and eventually flow into rivers, causing eutrophication of water bodies , exacerbating algae growth and destroying aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, the study recommends that the basin should reduce chicken manure emissions by 80% and take measures such as limiting the scale of breeding and transporting manure to other areas.

The ruling means that new chicken farms must submit detailed chicken manure disposal plans when applying for planning permission, including where the manure goes, how it is handled, and a transparent regulatory process. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) of the United Kingdom expressed strong dissatisfaction with this, believing that this ruling will increase the burden on farmers.

Drought and flood

15% of the world's largest cities are experiencing "climate whiplash"

On March 12, the international non-governmental organization WaterAid and several universities around the world jointly released a new research report titled "Water and Climate: Rising Risks to Urban Populations". The report reveals which of the world's 100 most populous cities are increasingly vulnerable to floods and droughts .

The report found that about 15% of the world's large cities are increasingly facing the hydroclimatic "whiplash effect", that is, the phenomenon of frequent alternation of extremely humid and extremely dry climates . Cities such as Hangzhou in China, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and Jakarta in Indonesia are all affected by this phenomenon. About 20% of cities are experiencing a "flip" in extreme climate - 13% of them are turning from dry to extremely humid, such as Colombo in Sri Lanka and Lahore in Pakistan; 7% are turning from humid to extremely dry, such as Cairo in Egypt.

Top 20 cities at high risk of experiencing wet (blue) and dry (red) weather | Wateraid

The report points out that 90% of climate disasters worldwide are related to water shortage or excess . In the past 50 years, weather-induced disasters have increased by 400%, putting tremendous pressure on urban water supply and sanitation systems. Severe floods not only damage water supply systems, but may also lead to outbreaks of water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid. Water shortages during droughts directly threaten the living needs of millions of people. Social factors such as poverty and poor infrastructure put residents at greater risk.

To address the water crisis, WaterAid has also proposed some solutions: collecting rainwater to provide clean water during droughts; monitoring water levels to help localities respond to extreme weather in advance; and building flood-proof toilets that can prevent sewage from overflowing when floods come, thereby avoiding contamination of water sources.

The Lego company that produced the most tires in the world

Started making tires from fishing nets

Who is the world's largest tire manufacturer? Not Michelin, but Lego ! Since 2006, Lego has produced more than 300 million rubber tires per year, reaching a peak of 381 million in 2010, which is more than the nearly 200 million real car tires produced by Michelin in 2024 (although they make mini tires).

The largest tire manufacturer produces the smallest tire | LEGO

In order to reduce its dependence on plastic, Lego announced that it will use recycled materials to make tires. These materials mainly come from discarded ship ropes and fishing nets, plus recycled engine oil. Lego said that at least 30% of each tire comes from these recycled materials . Now, tires made of recycled materials have appeared in some Lego products. It is expected that by the end of 2025, this environmentally friendly tire will appear in about 120 different Lego sets.

In addition to using fishing nets to make tires, Lego has made many attempts in terms of sustainability . As early as 2018, Lego began to try to use bioplastics extracted from sugarcane to make minifigure accessories and plant-shaped building blocks. Currently, more than half of its products contain this more environmentally friendly material. Since last year, Lego has used a plastic derived from artificial marble (a common material for kitchen countertops) for transparent parts such as lightsabers and windows.

Free chicken in a European town

I've seen free eggs, but I've never seen free chickens! Some small towns in France and Belgium are promoting an environmental protection measure - giving free chickens to residents to reduce food waste .

As early as 2015, the small town of Colmar in northeastern France began to implement a plan to distribute free chickens. The local government cooperated with a nearby chicken farm to give two chickens to each family who wanted to adopt a chicken, and encouraged residents to feed the chicks with kitchen waste . Although the chickens were free, residents needed to sign an agreement, promising to treat the chicks well and ensure that their living environment met basic standards - each chicken needed at least 8 to 10 square meters of activity space.

Colmar residents eat fresh eggs｜BBC

The project was very successful, and more than 20 cities later joined the ranks of distributing free chickens. So far, 5,282 chickens have found adoptive families, successfully reducing about 273 tons of kitchen waste . These wastes would have gone to landfills and produced greenhouse gases such as methane, but now they have become food for chickens, and the chickens can lay fresh eggs, giving these families a stable supply of eggs. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the project, some cities in Belgium require that families who adopt chickens must raise the chickens for two years and not eat them during these two years; the government will also conduct irregular inspections to ensure that the chickens are living a worry-free life.

While the program has been successful in France and Belgium, it has been difficult to scale up elsewhere. In the UK, for example, laws prohibit residents from feeding poultry with food waste due to concerns about the spread of diseases such as avian influenza. In addition, residents in more urbanized areas may lack the space or experience to raise chickens.

References

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/11/chicken-manure-can-be-classified-as-industrial-waste-judge-rules

[2] https://www.wateraid.org/uk/media/global-cities-wateraid-report

[3] https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250317-these-european-towns-in-france-and-belgium-hand-out-free-chickens

[4] https://www.yahoo.com/news/world-largest-tire-manufacturer-turns-152401138.html

[5] https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/only-seven-countries-met-who-air-quality-standards-2024-data-shows-2025-03-11/

Author: Yellow pollock

Editor: Mai Mai

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)

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