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Wales have already implemented it, Northern Ireland will be implementing it next year, Scotland are consulting on it, and now it seems that many in England would favour a 5p charge for each single-use carrier bag dispensed at shops. The charge is designed to help the environment by encouraging people to stop using such carrier bags and turn to more sustainable/multi-use bags. It is also designed to reduce litter.

Those in Wales have been charged 5p for each single-use bag used since October 2011, and early results seemed to indicate a 60% to 80% reduction in carrier bag use across different supermarkets. This apparent success was followed up by the Scottish Government, which began to consult on a possible 5p charge in June.

Although the Government in England has not officially announced plans to implement the charge, it seems that the English public are largely in support of it. 75% of people quizzed in a recent survey said they would cut down their use of plastic bags if there was a charge, which would have obvious environmental benefits. Furthermore, 56% of those asked agreed that a 5p charge was not unreasonable.

Helen Bingham, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign manager, said, "This research shows that the public are ahead of the Government when it comes to supporting things that are good for the environment. It is time for politicians in Westminster to follow the lead of the Welsh Assembly and introduce a charge that will help reduce the amount of litter blighting our streets, parks and beaches."

For more information, see the:

• Climate Change Act 2008.

Health and safety law is often used as an excuse to ban or prohibit certain activities, none more so than activities involving children.

Many provocative headlines have been produced reinforcing this flawed notion, the most famous of which being "Health and safety bans kids from playing conkers". The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has joined forces with the Play Safety Forum to produce a joint high-level statement that gives clear messages tackling these misunderstandings.

It is an approach which has drawn support across the water. Jim King, acting Deputy Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) said of the statement, "The HSENI welcomes this statement which helps to bring clarity to an often misunderstood topic. Health and safety law deals with health and safety in the workplace but it is clear that attitudes towards personal safety and the ability to assess risk are developed from a very young age. These life lessons are then carried into the workplace. The HSENI fully supports the principles contained within the statement."

You can view the HSE news article, which includes a link to the statement, at http://cedr.ec/ed.

Many farmers carry out the mixing and spreading of slurry regularly. It is one of many important jobs that has to be done. The task therefore becomes a habit and with that familiarity comes a lack of perception of the dangers.

The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland's (HSENI) ongoing advice is to take a few moments to review the job and make preparations to do the whole job safely. To help with this they have produced the leaflet: "Slurry gases can kill".

The leaflet includes information on:

• what is in slurry gas that makes it dangerous?;
• which one is most dangerous?;
• how is hydrogen sulphide given off?;
• what happens in the tank when mixing starts?;
• what is the problem for the farmer?;
• how do you know if gas is present?;
• will a facemask be any help?;
• how do I help someone overcome by slurry gases?;
• what about spreading slurry?

The snack that purports to be light and curly has caused a worker to break his leg when a 400 kilogramme block of compacted Quavers waste fell on them.

Lincoln Magistrates' Court was told that waste pellets from the Quavers production line ran off a machine into a magnum bin. The pellets solidified into a large block, which could not be dug out of the magnum so the worker and a colleague used a forklift to turn the magnum over so the block fell out.

But as the block was then lifted into the wheeled bin, it became stuck at the top. When the two men attempted to move the bin, it tipped over causing the block of pellets to fall onto the employee and fracture his lower leg.

The employee, who has asked to remain anonymous, was off work for 15 weeks but has since returned to work with the company.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told magistrates that the work had not been properly planned, supervised or carried out in a safe manner.

Walkers Snack Foods Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations SI 1999/3242 and the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations SI 1998/2307. The company was fined a total of £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.

After the hearing HSE Inspector Scott Wynne said, "The task of devising a method to dispose of the waste pellets had been given to an agency worker who did not have the experience or training required to allow him to properly plan how the task should be carried out. As a result it was carried out without supervision and, as the injuries to the employee suggest, the task was not carried out in a safe manner."

One of the largest egg producers in the UK has been ordered to pay £65,000, as well as costs of £9,500, for operating five sites across England without the required environmental permits.

Lincolnshire company, L J Fairburn, ran the sites between 1 February 2007 to 17 February 2012 without authorisation. Skegness Magistrates’ Court heard that at one time, Back Lane Poultry Unit at Bilsby had more than four times the number of birds it should have, numbering 186,810.

The court was told that any unit with more than 40,000 places for poultry needs to be permitted. Mrs Anne-Lise McDonald, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, explained that a poultry permit is granted subject to a number of conditions to protect the environment and local communities from the effects of ammonia and methane emissions, particulates that can affect human health and slurries, wash waters, fuels and chemicals with the potential to pollute.

She said that L J Fairburn failed to apply for permits in 2010 even when the company found out that they were required. Mrs McDonald said the company had also avoided annual subsistence fees of over £47,000.

The court also heard that one of the sites, Batchelor Farm, was near to three sites of special scientific interest (SSSI) and there was evidence of manure being stored without proper precautions.

Nigel Burn for the company said that they were embarrassed by the failure to have permits. The farms are now compliant with permitting rules.

After the hearing, Environment Agency officer Rebecca Tremain said, "We regulate intensive agricultural operations in order to protect human health and the environment. Operating without permits means that these risks were not assessed or regulated."

For more information, see the:

• Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations SI 2010/675;
• Standard Rules - Index.

The Badger Trust, which launched an appeal against Government proposals to kill thousands of wild badgers in England, has lost its court battle. Badger culling was proposed in order to eradicate the threat of TB as the disease in cattle costs the UK, the Government claims, over £100 million a year.

The Badger Trust challenged a judicial review in July to uphold Government proposals to pilot the cull. However, as their appeal has now failed, pilot badger culls could begin in Gloucestershire and Somerset within weeks.

Jeff Haydon of the Badger Trust said, "We're pleased that the judge has clarified the law but we are disappointed with the verdict. It hasn't changed the scientific facts at all. The majority of independent scientific opinion says the cull is unlikely to work and most probably will make matters worse."

However, a spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said, "Nobody wants to cull badgers. But no country in the world where wildlife carries TB has eradicated the disease in cattle without tackling it in wildlife too."

A controlled shooting of badgers will begin in Autumn, and will last for six weeks. Two companies have been established by farmers to manage the cull, using trained marksmen to shoot the badgers at night in the two pilot areas.

The cull is, however, only planned for England. Plans to begin culling in Wales were recently abandoned in favour of a vaccination policy, and there are no proposals to cull them in Scotland.

For more information, see the:

• Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981;
• Protection of Badgers Act 1992.