It wasn’t all bad

A total of 12.4 million adults in the UK have volunteered at some point during the pandemic, with more than a third doing so for the first time. According to research commissioned by the Together coalition, the members of the new volunteer army are all over the UK, and have a wide range of different social, ethnic and faith backgrounds. More than 750,000 are first-time volunteers aged 18 to 24, and a similar number are resident in the UK’s most deprived neighbourhoods.

Japanese-style circles of blossoming trees are to be planted in the UK’s “greyest” cities as part of a new initiative by the National Trust, Historic England and local councils. In a effort to replicate Japan’s Hanami tradition of celebrating the cherry blossom each spring, dozens of tree circles and avenues will be planted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to create “green, nature-rich havens in the very heart of urban areas”. Thirty-three cherry, plum, hawthorn and crab apple trees will create a London Blossom Garden at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London, with plans for Nottingham, Newcastle and Plymouth soon to follow.

In a world first, scientists in Britain have developed a form of polyethylene plastic that is biodegradable, and also recyclable. Whereas many biodegradable plastics require specialist composting facilities, the new material, which has been altered to make it “attractive” to microbes and fungi, breaks down in nature in just 226 days, leaving behind a harmless sludge. If it is recycled, it can be made into flower pots or pallets. Developed by a startup based at Imperial College, it can be used to make cling film, salad bags or thin post bags.