How much waste do you generate at home? We give you the 5 keys to reduce waste

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Responsible waste management, whatever its type, is difficult but entirely possible. The first thing is to become aware of how important it is to do our part to transform the planet into a cleaner and more sustainable one. It is always difficult to change our habits, but the first step is to become aware of them.

In recent years, a movement known as Zero Waste has begun to emerge, whose objective is to change lifestyle and harmful habits to reduce most of the waste that is generated on a daily basis.

The creator of this movement is the French Bea Johnson, who since 2008, together with her family of 4 members, has dedicated herself to adopting a zero waste lifestyle. Currently, the waste generated each year by the whole family fits in a single glass jar, while a normal person can produce up to 500 kg of waste. All this has been achieved by not generating garbage. This way of life is summarized in five principles:

1. Reject: everything that is not needed such as plastic bottles, paper tissues, straws ...

2. Reduce: Do you really need everything you think you need?

3. Reuse: everything that may have a second life. Buying or inheriting second-hand clothes and furniture is a good option!

4. Recycle: separate the waste in plastic, paper, glass ... And make it possible for these materials to be used again.

5. Reincorporate: imitate the cycle of nature using organic waste to compost or to feed pets (whenever possible).

The ozone layer is recovering by 1-3% per decade. With certain measures and following action frameworks such as that of the Montreal Protocol, ozone is expected to fully recover in the northern hemisphere and mid-latitude areas in the 2030s, while for the southern hemisphere the recovery will come in 2050 and in the polar regions by 2060.

Ozone protects life by absorbing ultraviolet radiation that can cause many diseases and natural catastrophes. But this recovery is only possible if we get to work on it.

This great news reminds that not all is lost if this momentum is maintained and a more environmentally friendly society continues to be created. That is why such innovative initiatives as Zero Waste arise, to raise awareness among all of us and thus achieve real results and that they be fulfilled.
 
Act Services and Environment: experts in waste treatment and urban cleaning
The company also offers construction and maintenance services for green areas The company also offers construction and maintenance services for green areas

Actúa Servicios y Medio Ambiente is a company committed to the environment and consolidated nationwide in urban and property cleaning services, solid waste collection and management, and in the construction and maintenance of green areas.

They work in more than 300 towns throughout Spain offering a service of excellence, commitment and quality. In addition, they have a highly qualified human team and the latest technological innovations to fulfill their main value: sustainability. Therefore, they have electric vehicles for their trips, they use ecological cleaning products and they also adopt waste collection and treatment systems that minimize noise and environmental pollution.

Its clear commitment to the environment and its exhaustive quality control and continuous supervision has led Actúa Servicios y Medio Ambiente to obtain the necessary certifications in their sector and, therefore, since 2014 they have management systems based on the ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OSHAS 18001 standards.

Derichebourg, with a turnover of 2.9 billion and more than 39,000 employees, is one of the main global operators in environmental services, with a presence in 15 countries. Through this operation, Derichebourg reinforces its presence in the European market with the acquisition of the main operator in the sector in Spain.

The synergies and the industrial sense of the operation will allow Lyrsa to consolidate its leadership in the Spanish market and continue with its development plan. The Derichebourg company has acquired the entire Lyrsa group, the Spanish leader in scrap recycling.

The scope of activities acquired had a turnover of 575 million euros in 2019.

In addition, Lyrsa processes around one million tons of metal waste each year, of which approximately 160,000 tons is non-ferrous metal. In addition, the group employs around 600 workers.

Founded in 1939, Lyrsa operates 18 recycling centers (17 in Spain and 1 in Portugal). In this sense, it is the first independent Spanish company specialized in recycling metal waste.

It operates, among others, three fragmenters (being a partner of one of them with the Derichebourg group for 27 years), a center for the classification of induced metals from fragmentation, an aluminum refinery and a lead refinery.

Following this acquisition, Abderaman El Aoufir, CEO of the Derichebourg group, stated: “We want to acknowledge the work carried out by the founding families and their descendants to build this magnificent group. We are aware of the importance of this change for the Lyrsa group and its employees, and we are excited about the idea of opening a new chapter in the history of both groups, Lyrsa and Derichebourg ”.

    2,900 million euros is the turnover of Derichebourg, in addition, it is one of the main operators of environmental services with a presence in 15 countries.

    575 million euros is the volume of business carried out by Lyrsa in 2019, who processes nearly one million tons of metal waste every year, of which approximately 160,000 tons of non-ferrous metals.
     

The Baix Vinalopó Waste Treatment Plant: recovery of waste to convert it into new resources

The Baix Vinalopó RSU Management Consortium, established in 1997 and chaired by Miguel Ángel Sánchez Navarro, Provincial Deputy for the Environment, Energy and Solid Waste, and which is made up of the municipalities of Aspe, l'Alguenya, Crevillent, Elche , Hondón de las Nieves, Hondón de los Frailes, la Romana, Monforte del Cid, Novelda and Santa Pola together with the Provincial Council of Alicante, has promoted the comprehensive remodeling of the Baix Vinalopó Waste Treatment Plant, located in Elche.

The Baix Vinalopó Consortium provides service to these 10 municipalities and 350,000 people and manages 200,000 tons of household waste per year, of which more than 9% of mixed waste and more than 70% of packaging, which will be converted into new resources to guarantee the development of the Circular Economy.

The plant, managed by the leading company in waste treatment Urbaser and CHM (through the UTE URBAHORMAR), has undergone a comprehensive renovation, in which more than 100 new waste treatment and recovery equipment have been installed, 6 optical separators, and two parallel treatment lines of the rest fraction that allow you to treat 80 tons of waste per hour.

All this already makes it one of the most efficient plants in the Valencian Community and enables the Consortium to meet the 2020 waste recovery targets. A modern optical separator has also been incorporated to recover the tiny glass present in the organic matter, located in the refining plant, in order to achieve a compost (or biostabilized) of the best quality.

At the same time, the best available techniques for reducing odors have been incorporated into the installation, which has two biofilters, and two special reactors that clean the air that is drawn in from the biowaste fermentation process with an on-site treatment , after passing through the biofilter, and its subsequent purification before going outside the facilities.

This comprehensive remodeling, which has lasted 9 months and has involved an investment of 15 million euros, has represented a huge challenge for its managers, since it has been carried out, folding treatment surfaces and changing obsolete machinery for the most modern technologies, without stopping to provide the waste treatment service for a single day. Currently the Baix Vinalopó Waste Treatment Complex has 250,000 square meters of facilities.