bottle Archives - usatoday24

In November, Spain is supposed to force stores to charge an amount for each bottle and can sold. It is supposed

April 24, 2026 by usatoday24

Something ticks inside every yellow recycling bin and the noise perfectly reaches newsrooms across the country. Hence the articles, pieces and reports that They say that “starting in November the stores will charge” for each plastic bottle. The good news is that yes, the law says that. The bad news is that where the ticking does not reach is the power centers of Madrid capital. What’s happening? Indeed, the Waste Law of 2022 obliges Spain to have a Deposit, Return and Return System (SDDR) for plastic bottles, cans and beverage bricks operational as of November 22, 2026. And the reason is simple: the country had to recycle 70% of everything introduced into the market by 2023 and we did not achieve it. Faced with this possibility, the legislator was clear: the current system had to be abandoned and the packaging return system adopted (the one that charges a deposit for each container and returns it later). Portugal found itself in a similar situation and just introduced the European system. So? What is the problem? The truth is that we have no shortage of problems. To begin with, measuring how we really recycle. For years, stakeholders claimed that recycling rates were close to 80%; However, in 2024, the General Subdirectorate of Waste prepared a report relating to the calculation of the separate collection of SUP bottles for beverages that lowered that figure to 41.3% (well below the 70% required). The second problem is regulation. Following the Law, in May 2025, four organizations (Ecoembes, AECOC, Procircular and CorePET) They asked the Community of Madrid that authorized them as Collective Systems of Extended Producer Responsibility in charge of managing the SDDR. The Community is the competent one since the organizations have their headquarters there. And then? Then nothing. Madrid legally had six months to resolve the request; but it granted itself an extension of another six months that would end next month. However, the Ministry of the Environment has already explained that they have no intention of doing anything because of the “legal uncertainty (that it entails), since adequate and sufficient regulations have not been developed at the state level.” MITECO, for its part, responds that there is no insecurity and that they are not going to do anything more. Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking. Nobody knows anything. While the CAM runs out of its extension, there are less than seven months left before we begin to break the Law and all scenarios are on the table: from a quick solution to a blockade that delayed everything two or three more years (most likely). What is out of the question is that there is no political will to implement this and nothing suggests that this will change. If you had to bet and taking into account that Spain is the country with the most cases of infractions for not transposing community regulationsit would be surprising if the SDDR started in November of this year. Image | James Lo In Xataka | Europe decided to regulate how garbage should be disposed of. We will pay it with a new mandatory rate in 2025

the main ingredient is the plastic of the shampoo bottle

April 3, 2026 by usatoday24

We have been wanting for years retire to traditional brick. This piece that has been the pivot on which civilizations have been built has ended up becoming a headache. The same thing happens to us with him concrete: It’s easy, cheap, but very polluting. That is why there are universities, organizations and even agencies like DARPA investigating to find alternatives. A young woman in Kenya believes she has found -another- solution: plastic. And it is a very interesting 2×1. plastic bricks. Nzambi Matee is a young Kenyan materials engineer who founded her company Gjenge Makers with one goal: turning the numerous plastic waste into bricks. Whoever says bricks says any urban element such as paving stones, tiles or manhole covers. The idea is to address the plastic waste crisis in Nairobi while trying to provide a solution to the need for eaffordable building supplies. And, also, giving work to women and young people belonging to vulnerable communities. The process. To create these plastic bricks, Matee was experimenting with different formulas until he found one that achieved the right properties. To do this, it mixes the plastic with sand into a whole that is heated and compressed to form solid blocks. With the right proportions, they calculate that the plastic bricks are five times more resistant than traditional ones. When that step has been completed, the mixture is introduced into an extruder where it is heated, with the plastic reaching the melting point, but without chemically degrading. The material is then poured into molds and a hydraulic press compacts to achieve both a high density and the desired shape. When it cools, it is removed from the mold and we now have a batch of bricks. Properties. The result is a material that, according to those responsible, has good thermal resistance as it has a melting point of more than 350 degrees. For paving streets in Nairobi, this is an important detail because it ensures that it will maintain its shape under normal use. They also do not crack as “easily” as a conventional brick while maintaining some flexibility. What uses? Well…anyone that involves the use of a traditional brick. Apart from the cases mentioned, you can also pave sidewalks, patios, parking lots or as decoration, since they can be designed in various colors. Tackling the plastic problem. Many times we have echoed the so-called ‘neobridrillos’. There are a lot of materials, plastic being a common component to address the recycling problembut There are also cane ones, for example. And we always say the same thing: they are interesting, but they cannot be used because they are not approved. The difference is that the Kenya Bureau of Standards is responsible for legitimizing use for urban and residential projects in the country, and Gjenge Makers’ plastic bricks have obtained permits. Examples of use The plastics they use are also those that can be left out of the recycling circuit. Kenya, with 95% of its waste recyclable, but where only 5% are recycled, it is not the most committed country in the world in this sense (in fact, it is one of the great pending tasks of the planet). And the plastics used are common: HDPE -high-density polyethylene-, LDPE -low-density polyethylene- and PP -polypropylene-. They are widely present in shopping bags, wrappers, detergent bottles, ropes, buckets and many other containers that simply end up in traditional trash. According to the startup’s numbers, since the start of the project in 2020, 200 tons of plastic waste have been used to convert it into construction material. Beyond the brick. But something that we also often say is that it is one thing for the invention to be ready and work… and quite another for it to be consolidated as a new construction material. Because other elements such as the cost per unit or the economic interests of the traditional industry come into play there. And something that is also important is the social impact of the company. According to its website, it provides direct and indirect employment to more than 600 people. They are linked to the collection, classification and manufacturing of the product, and a large part of the workforce is women and young people who find it difficult to participate in other economic activities. In the end, it is a project that is located at the intersection between the circular economy, sustainable urbanism and social inclusion. And it is a nice program, but as we say, there are more and more sustainable bricks, but in the end we continue to choose the most polluting process. Images | Gjenge Makers In Xataka | We have just reinvented the brick. It is just as it was millennia ago

The bottle has been reigning for years as the great wine format. Now competitors have come out: the tap and cardboard

May 3, 2025 by usatoday24

When you step on a restaurant there are certain images you assume as normal. “Normal” is for example that if you ask for a cane the waiter goes to the tap in the bar and throws it with greater or lesser art. And “normal” is that if you want is a wine (Let’s put a river) That same waiter takes out a bottle and serves 150 ml in a glass. However in a time when the cane It is falling cape Things also change in viticulture. Although the bottle remains the queen is increasingly “normal” that this wine is served with a tap, cardboard or kite. And it makes sense. Of bottles and boxes. That we carry years decades associating good wine and category restaurants to good bottles does not mean that the bottle, as such, is the only way to keep it. Not even serving the client. Hoteliers have other options, such as Bag-in-Box either Keykegsthat basically rethink the way of packing and handling the broths. Instead of doing it in the lifelong bottles that close with a cork use cardboard boxes provided with a valve and with a polyethylene bag inside. Or a system of metal bariletes and taps similar to the one used for decades to serve beer reeds. Click on the image to go to Tweet. Image question. The system is not new. As explained already in 2016 Fernando Marinas, from Finca La Estacada, The Grific Wine (Wine on Tap) exists for a long time and stainless steel barrels and Disposable PET type Nor are they a novelty for companies in the sector. In the US, its use can be in fact traced to the 80s. The novelty is how they are expanding through the bars and shops in Spain and (the really curious) how that formula tries to shake the stigma that often associates cardboard packaging to poor quality wine. A tap wine, please! Although the bottle is still the undisputed queen of the sector and it will be difficult for the cards to replace them in homes, in the hospitality it is increasingly easy to meet tap wine. In a context marked by A remarkable increase In bulk wine imports, hoteliers have decided to give a chance to the Bag-in-Box and the taps. It can be checked with a rapid review of the Spanish press, but also the foreigner. In recent years, coinciding with his popularity during confinement have dedicated articles The Guardian either The Telegraph. Recently The country published Also a report in which he cited as a half example dozen premises spread over Spain in which they serve as if they were beer. And the list is only that: a small sample. There are companies Betting on bottling in keg And bars that when they are asked for a wine already give the option to serve it in different formats (glass, half jug or jug) directly from the tap. “A new language in the world of wine”, summed up a year ago Iago Pazos, of Abastos 2.0, in The voice of Galicia. “It doesn’t mean they are worth less”. The pending tap wine does not have so much to do with the product itself, logistics, transport or distribution to hoteliers as with their image. To expand, the wine packaged in Bag-in-Box and served just like the reeds must shake the prejudices that for years associate the format to the low quality broths. “They are careful wines. That they are in a box does not mean that they are worth less. On the contrary: they reach places where they were not before,” claims in The country Maite Sánchez, from the Arrayán winery. So that this idea can producers have a complex and nothing simple task: break with decades of hegemony of the bottle and its success among the clientele. He recognizes it The Galician host Juan Fernández, owner of a place with 10 taps. “We take the wines already served, in a glass or jar and there are people who look at it suspicion. Then they try it, they find that the wine is the same or better than the bottling and they already accept it. We have a work of promotion and didactics.” But … why? The million dollar question. One thing is that the wine can be transported in cardboard and served with taps, just like beer; But … Why resort to that format if the bars lead a lifetime working with bottles? For format promoters the answer is easy: the plus they provide. “Everything is advantages”, Fernández emphasizes About his wine. “It has no contact with oxygen or light and therefore the wine does not evolve and retains all its properties. And there are no risks, such as damaging the cork.” Marine too stands out Format strengths, both for warehouses, which save the expenses of the bottling, and for hoteliers or consumers, who end up being favored by that same cut. “Stainless steel does not generate product flavor migration such as other materials, which ensures that the product will maintain its organoleptic properties throughout the distribution chain,” duck. In the case of Keykeg Marinas points the same qualities, although “unlike the steel barrel does not last so much in stock.” The footprint outside the wineries and bars. In his analysis he also recalls the “ecological savings” that allows the format. “Each 20 -liter barrel equals 26.6 bottles, corks and less labels,” List Before listing other “practical advantages”, such as ease when inventoring and transporting barrels, the speed of the service or the generation of less waste in the premises itself. Of course, it clarifies that not all wines are equally suitable for the format. The most appropriate in their opinion are young people with a few months in barrel. There are producers who They claim In addition, the wine carbon footprint in bags and cardboard format is (much) less than the traditional packaging, with its bottle and cork. How much? According to Oliver Leaby The Bib Wine Company, about … Read more

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