Are Disposable Nappies A Wasted Resource?
I stated my views on disposable nappies in this post called Disposable Nappies, where this was the first sentence.
From a scientifically green point of view, in many places I’m against using disposable nappies, as they clog sewers, end up in landfill and I’ve even seen them in litter bins in parks. We used real nappies for all our three children in the seventies, washing them ourselves in a machine for the first and then using a nappy service for the last two.
But dirty nappies contain a lot of the ingredients, that can be used to make hydrocarbons.
This article from the Sunday Times in 2018 is entitled Syngas, The New Jet Fuel — Stinky Nappies And Coffee Cups.
These are the first two paragraphs of The Times article.
With their packed cabins and recycled air, long-haul passenger jets are the last place where you would want to encounter the whiff of a dirty nappy.
However, old nappies are to be used — along with other non-recyclable waste such as meal packaging and takeaway coffee cups — to power British Airways planes.
Syngas is a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and some carbon dioxide. Some countries without access to petroleum or diesel created syngas and then used the Fischer–Tropsch process to create the fuels they needed. The process doesn’t have a good reputation as the two main countries to use the process were Germany under the Nazis and South Africa during apartheid.
Why is the use of this process being revived to produce aviation biofuel or sustainable aviation fuel for British Airways?
According to Wikipedia, it can save between 20 and 98 % of carbon emissions compared to conventional jet fuel.
The same process can also make biodiesel for buses, trains and trucks
It’s certainly an area, where a lot of research is going on! Just type “syngas nappies” or “syngas diapers” into Google and you’ll get a lot of serious hits.
By my front door I have a well-designed blue bin.
This is for my food waste bin, which is collected once a week.
This page on the Hackney web site is entitled Food Waste Recycling, and this is said about where the food waste goes.
Food waste from households in Hackney is sent to an anaerobic digestion facility in south east England, where it’s turned into renewable energy to power homes and biofertiliser to be spread on local farmland to grow crops.
A similar bin of an appropriate size could be used for nappies.
The nappies would go to an appropriate recycling site, instead of down the toilet or into landfill.
Covid: Hackney Railway Arch Rave Attended By ‘300 People’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the introductory paragraphs.
Police have issued more than £15,000 in fines after 300 people attended an illegal rave in a railway arch.
Officers raided an unlicensed music event in Nursery Road, Hackney, at 01.30 GMT on Sunday.
Sounds to me, that the safest way to handle this number of ravers, is to use a water cannon, firing smart water, so they can be identified for a couple of weeks.
The Liverpool And Hackney Puzzle
I know Liverpool well, as I was there as a student in the 1960s and now help fund cancer research in the University.
I now live in Hackney, which is a very mixed borough in London and not unlike lots of Liverpool in parts.
It puzzles me and some of the researchers I know in Liverpool, why Liverpool has a rate of the covids, which is five times higher than it is where I live.
A Useful Tool
The Times has added a useful tool to its web site, which shows the latest figures for the covids, according to a particular post code. It also shows the rules that apply.
This is the display for Hackney, where I live.
And this is the one for Liverpool, where I go regularly, although, I’ve only been once since March.
I shall use these displays to check before I travel.
Perhaps, The Times or another organ, should do something of a similar ilk for countries and places, we might want to visit.
What Happened In Hackney On Friday?
These are total number of lab-confirmed cases of COVOD-19 in Hackney over the last few days.
- 9th May – 622, 0
- 10th May – 623, 1
- 11th May 624, 1
- 12th May – 624, 0
- 13th May – 624, 0
- 14th May – 626, 2
- 15th May – 626, 0
- 16th May – 637, 11
What happened on Friday?
You have to go back to the 21st of April to find a larger figure.
Could it be that the COVID-19 testers raided an illegal gathering, care home or a house with large numbers of people living in it, in close proximity?
Or could it be the fallout from the parties in Hackney Marshes and London Fields, last weekend, that were reported in Monday’s edition of The Times.
So do you reap, what you sow?
The Hackney Campaign To Bring The North London Line Back From The Brink In The 80s
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the Hackney Gazette.
It is an interesting insight into life before the London Overground and how the section between Highbury & Islington and Stratford stations was created from a freight line, that hadn’t had passenger services for several decades.
It also talks about Broad Street station.
I used to use this station to travel from Ipswich to Metier’s offices at Stonebridge Park.
It was just a short walk from Liverpool Street station next door and then a train to Willesden along a very much forgotten North London Line, before taking the Bakerloo Line. It avoided the very crowded route via Baker Street station.
Hackney Does A Bicester
Hackney is developing a name for being a centre of designer outlet stores.
It’s certainly a lot closer than Bicester Village.
There’s also quite a few railway arches leading towards Hackney Central/Hackney Downs station complex, which could make a whole lot more designer outlets or fashion workshops.
But at least the Council has its finger on the pulse and are consulting about what to do with the area.
Let’s hope they get it right!
A Bactrian Station
Canonbury station has now got two Harrington Humps.
Does that make it a Bactrian station?
It’s certainly the sort of thing, that you’ll see in posh Islington and would never see in plebian Hackney.
Road Improvements In Southgate Road
Southgate Road is just round the corner from where I live and it forms the boundary between the posh of Islington in the West and the plebs of Hackney in the East.
Over the last couple of weeks, the traffic lights, where Southgate Road and Balls Pond Road cross have been replaced and we now have Countdown, which makes crossing easier.
Now Islington want to put a box junction just to the South of the traffic lights, where Dove Road joins Southgate Road.
These pictures show the area.
I have a feeling that this scheme may be a little bit half-baked, as it appears to be an Islington-only scheme, when surely, it should be a scheme that is promoted by both Boroughs.
Draft Hackney Central And Surrounds Masterplan
Last week, I went to a consultation about the Draft Hackney Central And Surrounds Masterplan in the Narrow Way by HackneyCentral station.
If you want to see the full version of the masterplan it is available at www.hackney.gov.uk/spd.
About Myself
As this article will be sent to the Council Planning Department, I’ll say a little bit about myself.
- Widowed, in my seventieth year and living alone.
- I’m coeliac, which I inherited from my father.
- I always describe my politics as left-wing Tory and very radical.
- As someone, who has helped create two high class technology businesses sold for millions of pounds, I’m very entrepreneurial.
- My father and three of my grandparents were all born within the triangle based on the Angel, Dalston Junction and Highbury Corner.
- My father was the least racist person, I’ve ever met. I hope his attitude has rubbed off on me!
- My two grandfathers were of part-Jewish and part-Huguenot ancestry respectively.
- As my two grandmothers families came from Northants and Devon, I usually describe myself as a London mongrel.
- My late wife and myself partly brought our three sons up in the Barbican.
- My middle son talks of that time in a tower block with affection, so I’m not against well-designed tower blocks.
After a stroke, left me unable to drive, I returned to my roots.
My Views On The Masterplan
I like lots of things about it. And especially these!
- The prominence given to new workspace, shops and the creation of jobs.
- The creation of new housing, where I’m only against bad tower blocks.
- The opening up of the railway viaduct, so it becomes a feature. Network Rail get a lot of stick, but they know how to look after railway brickwork.
- The creation of a public square at the bottom of the Narrow Way.
- The creation of more pedestrian streets.
- Better use of the bus garage site.
- Improvement of Bohemia Place.
It wouldn’t be me, to not put in my own wish list.
The Overground
Truth be told, I don’t think Transport for London, thought the Overground would be the success, it has turned out to be. So the designers did the minimum they felt they could get away with and would satisfy their political masters!
But the London Overground’s success has been repeated in places like the Borders Railway, Electrification in Liverpool, new stations in Leeds and the Todmorden Curve, and it is now proven in the UK, that if you give the population a good train service, they’ll use it.
Now that the walkway has connected Hackney Central and Hackney Downs stations and other improvements to the complex are in the pipeline, I think that serious consideration should be given to creating a second entrance to Hackney Central from Graham Road.
Failing that, pedestrian routes should be improved, so that access to the cluster of buildings around the Town Hall and the Empire is easier.
Hackney Central As A Meeting Point
Once the public square is created at the bottom of the Narrow Way, use of the area as a meeting point should be encouraged.
Consider.
- Hackney Central is where two rail lines cross.
- The London Overground through Hackney Downs gets new trains in 2018.
- There are several bus routes passing through the area.
- Bohemia Place and the railway arches must have potential for specialist shops and cafe/restaurants like Leon.
- Leon was started by a Hackney resident.
Who said it’s all about location?
Learning From Other Cities And Towns
I travel extensively, in the UK and Europe and see both good and bad examples of how to develop cities and towns.
Recently, I went to Blackburn and I was totally surprised at the transformation since I last visited a few years ago.
A Landscaped square had been created between the station and the cathedral.The square is surrounded by a PremierInn, a new office block, a small bus station on one side and a pedestrian way to a supermarket on the other.
Hackney could do similar or even better.
Sculpture
My uncle was a very good sculptor and I feel it is a crime that works of art like large bronzes are kept in store because security and insurance is a problem.
However, there are places where they could be placed with little fear of theft or damage. And that is at carefully selected locations on the platforms of railway stations.
So why not?
Hackney Downs certainly has space for one, but the platforms at Central are too narrow!
Information
When I was on holiday in Iceland, every building with a historic connection, had full information displayed outside.
Is Hackney’s information up to scratch?
Other Thoughts
This is a series of pictures with comments.
Conclusions
Hackney Central has some interesting buildings on which to develop the area. Unfortunately, there is some bad examples of boring architecture.
Some sites definitely have potential.
- Could the top floors of the Iceland building, be converted into a Southern station entrance, with perhaps a cafe and a couple of shops that travellers like?
- Bohemia Place could be a nice oasis with cafes, workshops and individual shops, a bit like the Box Park at Shoreditch High Street station.
- Bohemia Place will be better, when the arches under the railway are opened up.
- The right architect could do a fine job on the M & S Building.
- The car park at Hackney Central station might be much better as a bus interchange.
In my view the key is Bohemia Place, as this could be a magnet for people of all ages, races and classes to come and shop and refresh themselves.
The Anonymous Widower 