Metals have enjoyed the glare of the media spotlight recently, with police forces across the country recording increases in thefts of everything from copper piping to cables to church roofs – evidence, if ever it were needed, that metal is a valuable resource.

The value of metal has too often been taken for granted in the drive to boost the UK’s recycling rates, with government resources turned to developing the market for newly recovered materials. But as the country’s approach to recycling matures and waste management becomes more sophisticated, metal is rapidly coming to the forefront of the recycling debate.

International tea and coffee production is threatened by climate change.

Cafédirect, the UK’s largest 100% Fairtrade hot drinks company, issued the warning as world leaders gathered in Indonesia for the United Nations climate negotiations.

Aspiring adventurers and explorers are to benefit from the arrival at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) of a new Land Rover Freelander 2 to support Geography Outdoors, the society’s world-leading centre for research, exploration and outdoor learning.

The vehicle, which has been donated by Land Rover UK, will enable Geography Outdoors to spread the word on exploration and field research to budding adventurers, explorers and field scientists. It will also be used to provide training for people running or planning their own expeditions in the UK and overseas.

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a clean and convenient source of energy. Its main applications are off-mains gas, bottled gas and automotive LPG – used for domestic, commercial, agricultural and leisure heating, cooking and as a vehicle fuel, when it is often referred to as autogas.

LPG is well established worldwide as an environmentally-friendly transport fuel in use in over 11 million vehicles. Four million vehicles use it in Europe, including 140,000 in the UK where the market has developed over the past seven years.