30/10/2017 Inside Out North East and Cumbria

In the next half an hour,

are we willing to change?

Would a charge on plastic bottles

make us clean up and put

an end to wildlife misery?

As the population increases, more

people are using plastic bottles,

they're not getting recycled,

it's just going to

get worse and worse.

Will Northern men heed

the early warning that

could prevent hundreds of deaths?

If it had burst I would've been dead

before I hit the bottom.

That's how bad it is.

So if you're getting

one of these letters,

follow it up straight away.

And a change of home for a lethal

jet that's landed in Yorkshire.

It's highly advanced,

it's beautiful-looking

and it's superb performance

but it is a bringer

of death and destruction.

I'm Chris Jackson and

this is Inside Out.

Now, today's the last day to tell

the Government what you think

about proposals to put the price

of a bottle of water

or fizzy pop up by some 15p.

Campaigners say charging a deposit

on plastic bottles will cut

the amount of rubbish that

litters our countryside

and our beaches.

And they also say that will be good

for us humans and for wildlife.

But will it work?

Tens of thousands of new plastic

bottles pour off the production line

every day and when their contents

are drunk, they're thrown away.

In Northumberland, they come

here to be crushed,

bailed and recycled.

But what about those of us

who haven't taken the time

to dispose of our rubbish properly?

We've all seen it before.

Go to any public place and you'll

find a bottle that's

just been chucked away.

Sally Williams is

a keen kite surfer.

This is her favourite

beach, near Bamburgh.

The North East coastline is one

of the cleanest in Europe,

but according to Sally,

we're not free from

the scourge of plastic.

It's mainly people, tourists,

coming to the beaches,

having picnics and they just use

plastic bottles and they

only use them once.

Even dog walkers will bring water

for their dogs in plastic bottles.

Twice a year, Sally and volunteers

from Surfers against Sewage

stage a litter-pick along

the UK coastline.

They collected 18,000 plastic

bottles last spring.

As the population increases, more

people are using plastic bottles,

they're not getting recycled,

it's just going to get

worse and worse, and then

we are going to see what they see

in the south, on the beaches

in the south of the country.

It's just all going to get

washed up here as well.

And we'll find out later how

they get on in the autumn clean-up.

In Sweden, 90% of all plastic

bottles are recycled.

And that's because there's a cash

incentive to dispose

of them responsibly.

The main motivation

is that people want to get

their deposit money back.

The second reason is that people

like to do the environment a favour.

The deposit refund scheme, or DRS,

relies on a mark-up of around

10-15p for a full bottle.

This is refunded when

the empties are disposed

of via a machine like this.

So, has it cut down

on bottle-dumping in Sweden?

Normally they don't lay

on the ground for long

because people see that there's one

crown laying there and

they want that crown.

The system is being trialled

in Scottish universities, and,

according to the country's biggest

supplier of vending machines,

the results are positive.

If somebody was to buy a bottle

on the campus they will indeed use

one of these machines.

They will get a reward

for using the machine.

But it's proving that instead

of a weekly collection

from the local kerb-side boys,

they don't have to do

that because the plastic

is actually bagged and tagged,

ready to be lifted.

Back south of the border,

would these shoppers in Carlisle

bother to use the scheme?

Yes, I would.

I would.

Because you're going to get

your money back anyway,

so you might as well pay out

in the first place,

and to stop the landfills,

and you're killing the planet.

Well, if it works, yeah.

Gets them to stop throwing them in

the gutter and all over the place!

I don't think so.

We probably wouldn't

but our grandchildren would.

The grandchildren would have us

stashing them for them

and they would take them

back, wouldn't they?

I like it.

That's easy!

Anything recycling's good, isn't it?

Now, if money isn't enough

of an incentive, how

about this for a thought?

The plastics we're throwing away

are having a devastating

affect on our wildlife.

effect on our wildlife.

And potentially that

could harm us, too.

The large bits of plastic

end up being broken up,

fragmented by the natural wave

action, the same sort of thing

that forms the sand,

and they get broken up,

broken down into smaller

and smaller pieces.

And how long would that take?

It could take hundreds of years

to get some large bits of plastic

down to these smaller sizes.

A lot of the stuff we're talking

about is what we can't

necessarily see on the beaches.

How big is the problem?

How big is the scale of this?

Well, the estimates vary but it's

probably roundabout sort

of 12 million tonnes per annum

is pushed into the marine

environment, so that's an enormous

amount of plastic that gets

into the system and that we then

have to contend with, really.

And of course the wildlife -

they don't know that it's plastic,

they think it's food.

Absolutely.

They don't distinguish between sort

of something that is made by us

and something that is desirable

for them to eat.

Richard has been researching

the causes of seabird deaths

and his findings are alarming.

Almost like every sample

he has dissected, this has

plastic in its stomach.

This is a young bird,

it's not had a long time

to accumulate plastic.

A more typical bird would have that

sort of amount and variety

of different sorts of plastics.

A lot of the pieces will be sharp,

jagged edges that can actually

puncture the stomach wall,

but just having that volume can give

the animal the impression

that it's actually fed,

and so may not actually go out

and forage properly.

Just looking at that and comparing

it to the size of the bird,

I'm trying to imagine what that

would be in human terms, how much

plastic that's inside someone.

An approximation, it's

like having something like that

in your stomach constantly.

What, all these?

Yes.

Wow.

So seabirds are clearly at risk.

But what about the

implications for us?

I'm not going to be

eating plastic myself.

Should I be worried?

Well, you may not be eating plastics

directly but you may be

doing it indirectly.

All those plastics that

we found in the birds,

it's all in the environment,

it's all been weathered down

into smaller and smaller pieces,

and when they are very small,

microplastics, then

they are the sorts of things that

are ingested by other animals

which we are then eating ourselves.

It seems undeniable there

is an urgent need for the safe

disposal of plastics.

Back with the bottle mountain,

and they've now been sorted, bailed,

ready for their onward journey,

and the next time you see these,

they could just as easily be another

bottle, or it could be furniture,

a street lamp or even a fleece.

Suez is a major player

in European recycling,

so what is its position

on the deposit return scheme?

We have been a supporter of DRS

as part of a comprehensive

and competent collection system.

We've experience of it in Sweden

and Northern Europe,

and it compliments our business.

It brings more material back,

which increases the catch rate

of bottles, it can reduce

contamination for us

and it will bring more

materials away from litter

and from the residual waste room.

But there are those who think we're

far too reliant on plastic.

Richard Slade runs an eco-hotel

in Northumberland.

They draw their own water and serve

it in reusable bottles.

He believes the Government could do

more to tackle the plastic problem.

I think there should be heavy

penalties for producers of plastic

that's not eventually biodegradable

or reusable, but I think

the Government could go further

and demand and legislate

for the fact that plastics have

to be able to be disposed of safely

without polluting our environment.

Back with the litter-pickers,

and in the autumn clean-up so far,

they've collected 12,000

dumped plastic bottles.

So this is an example

of the bottles we got today.

These will be sent off

to Ecover for recycling.

I do think the deposit scheme

would make a considerable difference

in eradicating the plastic bottles

that we do see in the environment.

People just don't think

of the consequences.

It's just convenience and laziness.

It's easier just to bury it

in the sand and leave it

there and it's somebody else's

problem, but I think everyone's

attitude needs to change.

DRS can't be rolled out

here for many months yet.

If it is approved by the Government,

perhaps future generations can spend

more time enjoying the beach and not

cleaning up the dangerous mess

others leave behind.

So, would a charge

on plastic bottles change

the way that you shop?

Let me know what you think.

My contact details

are on the screen now.

They've been described as unexploded

bombs sitting inside your body

and every year hundreds

in our region will be

killed by them.

What are they?

They are abdominal aneurysms.

That's blood vessels that can

rupture without warning.

Now, men here in the North

are being offered early

diagnosis and a fix.

But are we listening?

James Cook Hospital

in Middlesbrough.

68-year-old Richard is about to have

abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery.

If it all goes badly wrong,

I'll know nothing about it.

The only person who's

going to be left to pick up

the pieces is my wife.

At Newcastle's Freeman Hospital,

70-year-old John is also

about to have surgery.

I've got faith in it.

And that's it.

Do their job and, you know...

As long as they wake us up!

Two men, two operations.

A keyhole repair and open surgery.

One condition -

abdominal aortic aneurysm.

The aorta is the largest

artery in the body.

Normally it's around two centimetres

across but it can weaken

and balloon into an aneurysm.

At 3-5.4 centimetres it's monitored.

5.5 and over, it's at risk

of bursting, with catastrophic loss

of blood, and needs surgery.

In North Tyneside, an ultrasound

scanning session is underway.

The scans can pick up aneurysms

and show their size.

Men approaching 65 automatically

get an appointment.

You've just got a good attraction

with a camera there.

And the women!

It's natural!

The black circle is William's aorta.

Your aorta's looking

absolutely fine.

Thank God for that.

Just lie down and get your belly

rubbed, so great for me!

Prevention better than cure.

Men are six times more likely

than women to have an aneurysm.

They've claimed many

high-profile victims.

One of the most famous

was the physicist Albert Einstein.

ARCHIVE: He received

highest honours but lived

quietly at Princeton,

New Jersey.

There, death came

to Albert Einstein.

Aneurysms can be as big

as 15 centimetres.

John's is 5.7.

At the Freeman, he's having

endovascular surgery to fit stents.

They are compressed cages

surrounded by fabric.

They go through the aorta.

It's akin to what they do nowadays

if you have a blocked drain.

They'll send a little robot down

to realign the pipework

from the inside and really that's

what we're doing with this aorta.

We are relining it from the inside.

I think we're

sophisticated plumbers!

They use rods to push the stents up

blood vessels from the groin.

Once properly sited,

they will spring open

and lock into place.

So we want to do the X-ray to see

if the wires are going

into the right position or not.

How are you this

afternoon - all right?

Champion.

OK...

A patient here is back

for a regular scan.

And he's worried.

They've found an aneurysm and it's

grown because it's 5.4.

So I've got to come back every three

months, get it checked.

OK, so Alex is going to do

her measurements now.

It does look like it's 5.5, though.

All right?

The risk that the aneurysm

could burst is too great.

Bursts kill around 90%

of those who have them.

There are usually no

symptoms until it happens.

Francis is referred for surgery.

See you.

I was half expecting it because it

had grown last time but...

Sometimes it misses

the three-month, doesn't it?

Back at James Cook, Richard's

aneurysm is 6.5 centimetres wide.

His open surgery is a bigger

operation than fitting stents

but stitched grafts may stay

in place better than stents.

There's your aneurysm.

Now, that's what we're going to call

the normal bit of aorta.

The aneurysm is opened.

They begin by sewing in the fabric

graft, which is shaped

like a pair of trousers.

But there's a problem with bleeding.

Sometimes the tissue

of the aorta is incredibly

difficult to work with.

If you can get the top end to stay

in nicely and not bleed, that's

a big weight off your shoulders.

One of the rookie mistakes, though,

is to think the bottom end

is going to be much easier

and it isn't.

That's really where

we had the problems.

Another screening session.

This time in County Durham.

This is Bill's first time.

He doesn't know it

but he has an aneurysm.

OK, the top part of the blood vessel

was actually slightly wider

than the bottom part,

the bit we had already seen,

so we've taken your measurements

and you have a small

abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Well, I didn't know,

and now that I've got a clear

picture of what's going on,

I'm relaxed about it.

It's something to deal with.

You deal with it and you move on.

Back at the Freeman,

the team insert John's stents

but they hit a snag.

So what we're trying to do is get

a wire to go into the hole

in the stent graft that's left,

which is quite a fiddly procedure.

And at the moment we are being

slightly frustrated because it looks

like it's gone end and then it slips

out again, so we have a number

like it's gone in and then it slips

out again, so we have a number

of different wires and catheters.

If we can't get in with one wire

and catheter combination,

we can try a different one.

Yeah, so that looks like it's in.

Around one or two people per 100

scanned will have an aneurysm.

The screening programme

in the North is run

by Gateshead's Queen Elizabeth

Hospital.

We've actually found over 1,000

aneurysms and they then come back

to see us regularly,

and 240 more men have been referred

for further treatment

in vascular services.

Back at the Freeman,

John's stent is in place.

We'll put in the catheter that's

going to inject the dye in,

so we can outline all the vessels.

So I think we're happy we've got it

as good as we can get it.

What we're going to do now is we're

going to have to take this equipment

out and then repair the arteries.

At James Cook, Richard's open

operation is almost done.

Now we've got the graft sewn in,

and then these are the two limbs,

there's the left limb

and the right limb, OK.

Everything's flowing nicely.

So all we need to do now

is make sure everything

stops oozing and then

we're ready to close up.

One of the main causes

of aneurysms is smoking.

In Durham, Anthony has come

for his yearly scan.

A regular smoker, he

gave up two years ago.

His aneurysm was 4.1 centimetres.

Right, I get 4.2 and 4.3.

Great.

Relieved.

Anthony's aneurysm has grown by just

one millimetre in a year.

Lovely, so we'll see

you again in 12 months.

Eight aneurysms were

scanned at these sessions,

but of the 77 appointments,

22 men failed to turn up.

For the no-shows, a cautionary tale.

A year ago, George was

going to miss his scan.

I was eventually talked into it

by my wife, she just says,

look, you've got to come,

so I did, just to keep the peace.

On the ultrasound scan

they found I had an aneurysm.

That aneurysm turned out to be 9.7.

If it had burst I would have been

dead before I hit the bottom.

That's how bad it is.

So...

If you're getting one of these

letters, follow it up straight away.

That decision to keep

the peace means George can

continue enjoying life.

I've never looked back.

Richard is woken

after his operation.

Recovery will take

around three months.

John's recovery from the stent

operation is much quicker.

A job well done.

I'll be back home.

Two men whose lives may have

been saved by saying yes

to a simple abdominal scan.

And I'm really pleased to tell

you that both Richard and John

are recovering well.

Now, what's the connection

between a nuclear war plane

and a tiny part of Yorkshire known

as La Petite France?

No?

Well, Lucy has the answer.

The Mirage IV in-flight, a

supersonic aircraft capable of

thousands of miles per hour. What is

beauty belied its deadly purpose. It

was built to drop a nuclear bomb 40

times more powerful than the one

that destroyed Hiroshima. -- but

it's beauty.

It is highly advanced,

beautiful to look at and superb

performance but it is a bringer of

death and destruction. The ultimate

threat.

The Mirage IV, pride of the

French Air Force, now the latest

exhibit at Elvington a museum and

the plane buffs will love this one.

Sleek lines, or like a rocket than a

plain, and a huge Bombay built into

its undercarriage. So why is this

relic of the Cold War here in a

hangar in the Yorkshire air Museum?

Well, the big clue is right next to

it. A British Halifax bomber but

with French Air Force markings.

France was defeated and occupied in

1940 but the bulk of her Air Force

was safe in North Africa, and from

there, air men formed two bomber

squadrons that served at Elvington

from 1944. There were so many French

air men here, it became known as La

Petite France, and this part of

Yorkshire became a central part of

the campaign to liberate Europe.

This memorial garden in Elvington

commemorates over 2000 and men who

served with two full-French

squadrons, and they paid a heavy

price for the bombing raids over

their own country. Over 200 of them

died trying to liberate France.

It is that French connection that

lent the gift of the final surviving

French bomber from a different era.

The two squadrons are still flying

today but during the 60s, 70s, 80s,

the French nuclear deterrent was run

by these Mirage IV aircraft, and the

French squadrons based here flew

them. So there's a really strong

connection.

It took more than a

decade of red tape and high-level

negotiations before it could be

moved from France.

Any transfer of a

major nuclear defence aircraft to

another country, let alone a museum

third-party in another country,

obviously has to be taken at the

highest levels of government.

But

with the final hurdles cleared,

earlier this year, on the outskirts

of Paris, a team started the

painstaking task of taking the parts

of the aircraft apart and loading it

onto a lorry. But it is as long as a

swimming pool and with a 12 metre

wingspan, this was never going to be

easy. After a whole day spent

loading, the giant consignment was

finally on its way to Yorkshire in a

convoy of two lorries and two vans.

I've made the reverse journey to the

one that brought it to Yorkshire. It

was just a few miles from here in

Paris that the aircraft was once

displayed at the city's science

Museum. The Mirage IV is an iconic

aircraft in France. I am here to

learn more about it from the elite

group of pilots during the Cold War.

-- pilots who flew it during the

Cold War.

It was the most beautiful

aircraft that they built from the

beginning. It was a fantastic

aircraft. Capable of flying at very

high altitude, 52,000 feet. It was a

bomber, but some fighter pilots were

very surprised. The only problem we

had was the visibility due to the

nuclear flash is very small.

ARCHIVE: No doubt she took her pride

in the Mirage IV...

This was the poster boy of the

French Air Force, built in 1964, and

its ultimate weapon of attack in the

new age. The Cold War began with the

final collapse of Germany's Third

Reich at the end of World War II.

Relations between the Allies, the

Communists of the union in the east

and the capitalist West, quickly

soured. Not the-occupied territories

were carved up and the so-called

Iron Curtain came down over Eastern

Europe claimed by the Soviets. The

Cold War was fuelled by an arms race

of nuclear weapons capable of

previously unimaginable destruction.

Against this backdrop, this pilot

got his wings back in 1970. He would

one day fly a Mirage IV, armed with

a 60 kilotonne nuclear warhead

facing the Soviet Union. That

warhead was a freefall bomb and had

to be dropped directly over its

target.

You arrive at 600 knots, 200

feet, you climb at 4.5 G, and when

the bomb is dropped, you have to

descend very quickly by an

upside-down manoeuvre at -20 degrees

at night in the clouds to avoid the

nuclear flash. It was a very

difficult manoeuvre.

It was a close-knit team of pilots

who flew the plane. They shared the

knowledge that should they undertake

the mission they were trained for,

thousands of people would die in an

action that would probably be the

pilot's last. The Mirage IV carried

only enough fuel for the outward

journey.

It's not the question for a

military who have trained to launch

the bombs. And it was absolutely not

in our mind to say... Yes or not.

No. We were following orders and if

it's not the case, change your job.

It took four days of convoy travel

for the aeroplane to reach its new

home. When it arrived here in

Elvington to join the collection,

the prized Mirage IV was in bits

like a giant ethics model, and it

was then that the work to put it

together had to begin. -- a giant

airsix model.

It took two weeks of hard work by

French engineers before it was

complete.

It's now the only one in existence

outside of France.

People understood

that this was the place for it to

come. It's been a great project and

you only have to look at it and

realised it was worth every minute,

really!

An increasing proportion of the

museum's collection now comes from

the Cold War era and the Mirage IV

joins planes like the victor nuclear

bomb.

That is its British equivalent. The

front line of the French nuclear

deterrent, the Mirage IV was

designed to keep front of the global

power, and after the bloodshed of

the Second World War, able to resist

ever be invaded again. Pierre

believes it played a huge part in

post-war peace.

Absolutely for sure,

100%. Because never, never a

president took the possibility to

push the button first. But now, with

North Korea, it's a real danger for

us.

It was once cutting-edge

military technology. Now it's a

museum piece. But the Mirage IV was

designed to counter the threat of

nuclear war, and today, decades on,

that threat remains ever present.

Fascinating stuff. But sadly, time

for us to fly now.

Next week, we Northerners missing a

trick? We discover why we should be

casting our eyes to the skies.

I will see you next Monday. Until

then, good night.