Fri, 06 Jan 2006

Innovative ecological wastewater treatment scheme wins major awards

CASTLETON, Yorkshire (NNA) – A British business producing flowforms and water features last year won a series of high-profile prizes for its innovative approach to ecological sewage treatment.

Iris Water & Design won the Environmental Award in the British Construction Industry Awards, was commended in the International Sustainability Awards of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, was declared the overall winner for innovation, excellence in concept, design and execution of civil engineering works by the Institution of Civil Engineers, Yorkshire Region, and won the Yorkshire & Humberside Sustainability Award of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Iris Water won its prizes for the design of a sewage treatment scheme for Yorkshire Water at the village of Scrayingham. The water company praised the scheme as having “pulled off the impossible task of cleaning up waste water to a high standard; at the same time creating an ecology that attracts and supports a variety of wildlife; and by ensuring the scheme becomes part of the landscape as a visually pleasing feature.”

One of the judges commented: “This is a most original solution to a problem that creates unhappiness in many small communities. This is the real sharp end of civil engineering, where the civil engineer must design with ecology and sustainability firmly in mind. The fact that the final scheme actively enhances the environment could lead to it becoming an area of Special Scientific Interest – a remarkable achievement!”

Andrew Joiner from Iris Water told NNA: “The project has a wonderful atmosphere, especially noticeable in the growing season, when nature is in abundance. This can be observed by the people who have visited the project, especially the judges for the awards, who arrived stressed out and who left feeling uplifted.”

The system consists of a series of ponds with rock filters on a natural slope allowing the wastewater to flow through the system by gravity alone. The treatment process relies solely on the light and warmth from the sun and air, making it naturally sustainable and low maintenance. The micro-organisms that occur in wetland and aquatic ecosystems are exploited to enhance the effectiveness of the treatment process. Another element of the process is the development of diverse and stable ecological communities of plants and animals in proximity to the water treatment system.

The concept goes back to a wastewater treatment system first developed for the Botton Village Camphill community.

END/nna/cva

Item: 060106-02EN 6 January 2006

Copyright 2006 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See http://www.nna-news.org/copyright/

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GLS Bank and Oikocredit to collaborate

BOCHUM (NNA) – The GLS ethical investment bank in Germany and the international Oikocredit development cooperative intend to collaborate more closely in the future. This is the outcome of a cooperation agreement which was signed in Bochum in December.

Oikocredit is a privately owned cooperative society which is one of the largest financiers in the microcredit sector for development financing worldwide. Andreas Neukirch, GLS Bank board member, said the bank wished to collaborate with Oikocredit because of the important role played by the cooperative: “It is in many respects a unique organisation, rather like a development bank. It provides financial resources for people who would otherwise not have access to such loans. Oikocredit supports sustainable development.“

According to the GLS Bank press office, GLS and Oikocredit agreed the collaboration in order to increase the range of investment opportunities they could recommend to their customers. As a result GLS customers now also have the opportunity to invest in microfinancing in developing countries alongside the Bank’s existing opportunities in the investment and gift sectors.

Matthias Elstermann from Oikocredit emphasised at the contract signing the similarity of the objectives pursued by GLS Bank and Oikocredit: “We look forward to this cooperation because the GLS Bank, like us, handles money in a different way based on ethical criteria. We too support the establishment of fair structures and give precedence to this over profit maximisation.”

Oikocredit, which was established in 1975 one year after the GLS Bank on the initiative of the World Council of Churches, provides microcredits through regional offices managed by local professionals in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, who are in direct contact with borrowers. Loans are awarded in accordance with ethical criteria: considerations of economic viability are supplemented by the role of cooperative structures, the involvement of women, environmental protection and the social effects of the credit.

The loans are financed by equity provided by ecumenical institutions, but above all private investors who can join a support association and acquire fixed shares of 200 euros/200 dollars each. These shares currently attract a dividend of two percent.

Both GLS-Bank and Oikocredit were given the rating “very good” last year by the independent Ethibel rating agency.

NNA/end/ung/cva

Item: 060106-01EN 6 January 2006

Copyright 2006 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See http://www.nna-news.org/copyright/

More NNA reports at: http://www.nna-news.org/