garbage

In Galicia they have tired of finding garbage outside the cubes. So they will begin to rummage in it to fine their owners

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In Sanxenxo They are fed up of finding trash out of the containers. Hence, the cleaning service and the local police of this coastal municipality of Las Rías Baixas, very popular as Tourist destination During the summer months, they have assumed a peculiar task: rummage in the bags to hunt receipts, tickets or any other track that reveals who has skipped the ordinance. And the City Council already warns: the ‘joke’ can be expensive. What happened? That Sanxenxo, a municipality of the Pontevedrés coast, He said enough. Its authorities have tired of being garbage bags outside the containers spread throughout the people and want to cut that annoying root habit. As? Searching on the bags to identify their ‘owners’. And how will they do it? In A statement Published on Tuesday the City Council explains that the concessionaire dedicated to the collection of waste, Ascan, will be responsible for “analyzing” the bags thrown out of the collection points to “locate the offender.” It will also do so from the hand of the Municipal Police and with a strategy worthy of the classic detectives. The operators will look for receipts, cards or any other track that can reveal where the bag came from. What if they locate the person in charge? Sanction. The Galician City Council recalls that those who skip the Environmental Protection Regulations, public cleaning and garbage collection face a fine of up to 600 euros. After all, The Consistory insistsArticle 39 of that rule makes it clear that pouring garbage into “unauthorized places” is considered a very serious infraction. Why do you do it? Because over the last days the Consistory has encountered garbage bags thrown in the center of the town, in areas as crowded as Consistory or Praza do Pazo, although it has also located abandoned waste in other parts of the interior of the municipality. In Sanxenxo there are some 18,000 neighbors registered, according to the latest INE data, but the number of people who walk and spend the night in the town He shoots every summer. Some estimates They point out that its population It is quintupple During July and August and, at least in 2020, the town had 11,100 second residences. Only in August last year the INE registered 70,000 travelers housed in hotel stores. To give services, to them the usual neighbors, the town has 2,000 containers and 651 islands of waste, spaces that the City Council wants them to use yes or yes. Although it must resort to fines to achieve it. Is it the first to do it? No. Sanxenxo is not the first town hall to which it occurred to search in the garbage bags to hunt offenders. Before they have already done other municipalities in the country, with disparate results. Similar measures were raised in their day in Sherry, Barcelona, San Sebastián either Seville. In the case of Donostia, In 2015 The Consistory ended up issuing an order so that the operators in charge of the collection of garbage stopped opening the bags. The decision was made after the complaint of a neighbor they had fined 250 euros. Images | Sanxenxo 1 City Council 1 and 2 and Hugo Cadavez (Flikr) In Xataka | The rent has risen so much in Galicia that its beaches have problems hiring something fundamental: lifeguards

The subsoil of historical cities hides a great garbage vacuum. The problem is that you have to punch

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Tony Soprano, from the great series’The soprano‘He was dedicated to garbage management. It may seem an exaggeration designed for fiction, but as usually happens, fiction surpasses reality. Base management It is a problem for half the world (more now than China decided to stop being our landfill) and move so much money that there is mafias moving from one country to another. In the search for solutions, the definitive company came up with a Swedish company to stop seeing cubes and garbage trucks through the streets: move waste from pipes. It is something that has turned medieval cities into the technological pinnacle of garbage collection. But the day -to -day life of the neighbors is something else. Changing the approach. It all started by chance. At the end of the 1950s, the Sollefte hospital in Sweden was investigating the creation of a central aspiration system to catch dust. One of the participants in the table was OLOF H.Hallstrom, director of Centralsug, the current Waste Waste company, and the idea arose: instead of a giant vacuum For dust, a giant garbage vacuum could be created. So They tell On its website, where they point out that the system was inaugurated in the hospital in 1961 and that it continues to work with many of the original pieces installed more than 60 years ago. But of course, if it works so well in a building, why not expand the network to an entire city? That is no longer so easy. Sollefte basements with garbage collection tubes A giant vacuum. First of all, you have to see how it works. Known as’Pneumatic garbage collection‘O’ Automatic vacuum collection ‘, AVAC from now on, is a giant vacuum connected to a multitude of underground pneumatic tubes. On the surface there are a series of nozzles that are designed for organic or plastic waste (the glass could damage the system) in which the bag is deposited with the waste and, thanks to fans that generate suctions of more than 60 km/h, travel through the tubes to a collection center. Example of one of these nozzles They are classified and loaded into trucks to transport them to their final location. This system reduces the use of trucks and their corresponding pollution, as well as Cubes in the streets. The most current systems include doors that are automatically open and cards in possession of citizens to activate the system. Modernizing historical cities. And that reduction of cubes and trucks circulating is something ideal for any city, but it seems key in locations with two profiles: tourist or old helmets of medieval cities. A clear example is Bergen, a Norwegian city founded in 1070 that is the second most populated in the country and has a historic center full of colorful wooden houses. It has fired several times and the garbage itself can be a focus of fire, so by safety and improve the helmet, they decided to bet on an avac type system. It is one of the 200 cities in the world in which this system has been installed and, as we read in The Washington Postthe diesel emissions Since the garbage trucks stopped circulating along their narrow streets. Among others, Leganés, Barcelona, ​​Barakaldo, Torrent, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Stockholm, Doha or Seoul have neighborhoods in which a pneumatic collection system is used, and in new construction complexes of some cities are also betting on it. Complex. The problem is what you can imagine: the system itself is expensive, but it is also a headache. In new neighborhoods, it is as simple as to pass one more pipe in the streets where there are already other pipes, but in Historical cities Or neighborhoods already built, bet on something like avac implies lifting the streets and performing a considerable work. Bergen’s example is clear. As they point out on TWP, since they made the decision to start building the system in the historic center in 2007, they have invested about 100 million dollars. There are years to finish connecting the entire network and estimate that the cost will be 30 million dollars. Terje Strom, responsible for waste management in the city, says it is “almost impossible.” Contextualizing the figures? It is almost the entire annual budget of the Waste Department. Collection Central in Konza Technolopis, Africa Gamification and penalty. But, leaving cost aside, user experiences seem positive. It is a system that simplifies the garbage, which eliminates full cubes and the truck transit. In Spain we have containersbut in other cities they work with individual cubes that roll through the streets and share the stamp. Not everything is perfect, since although there are no trucks, they do operators who are dedicated to unblocking the mouths when someone introduces something that should not. And beyond not seeing garbage trucks, there are two incentives for citizens. One is the gamification by application That tells us how many kilos we have deposited in real time and compares with the previous month. It also tells us how average we are, since there is a limit. In Bergen, to open waste mouths, residents bring their electronic key, which allows you to register how much discard and collect a rate according to the amount of non -recycled garbage they send to the incinerator. This penalty is something that It has also been seen in South Koreawith positive results regarding the increase in recycling. Not everyone is happy. Beyond installation costs, it seems the perfect system to manage waste. However, looking at what happens in Spanish cities in which these systems have been installed, we see that not everything is so beautiful. There are more than thirty cities that use this pneumatic collection, and in some Failures are reported that cause the tubes to be full due to pipes that do not absorb well. Tubes in a kind of garbage rooms in Leganés. The main problem for users is the diameter of the mouth. Image | Xataka It is something that causes bad odors, as users of … Read more

Bird nests and kilometers of garbage

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Among the technologies that have been applied on the battlefield in Ukraine, few as currently recognized as one of the Mortifical weapons. We talk about drones and fiber optic cables, a lethal conjunction that has the potential to change the dynamics in the contest. In fact and how We have recentlyin Ukraine, every Russian drone that raises the flight becomes a silent bet between life and death if a cable accompanies it. Now, in addition, technology is leaving an unpublished trail. Invisible summer. It Forbes explained The weekend. Ukraine is entering a new phase of technological war with the massive deployment of attack drones guided by fiber optic cables, marking what is already known as The “summer of fiber drones”. Thus, in fields and villages, the remains of these systems, which leave fiber ribbons gathering as Cobbles on the groundthey have become omnipresent. In this regard, the immediate environmental impact is already long term of the wiring kilometers remains uncertain, but From CEOBS There are works that are exploring several concerns, such as the possible release of degraded cable microplastics, pollution from hazardous chemicals such as PFAS, risks to wildlife due to physical tangles and the complications that they can mean for activities such as demining. Not just that. Recent images even show Bird nests Built with cable fragments, an unnoticed but eloquent symbol of the reach of this new technology. What began as a Tactical innovation now it is transforming the way They fight the battles: Ukrainian and Russian operators can introduce drones by windows and doors to locate and destroy hidden vehicles, overcoming the limitations of conventional drones that They depend on signals of radio vulnerable to electronic blocking. Forgotten concept evolution. Like almost everything in war, the idea is not new at all: already in the 2000s, Darpa had conceived Guided drones by fiber optic cable to avoid electronic interference. But it was not until the war in Ukraine when that concept found real application. Russia was the first in deploy fiber drones On a little more than a year ago, and quickly went to a broader production. Ukraine, with the support of international volunteers Like former Marine American Troy Smothers, It has accelerated: 15 local companies already manufacture these drones (although at a distance from Russian machinery). The Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, has led the effort, promoting collaboration between private initiative and defense capabilities. Unlike traditional drones, which can lose communication if they fly low or after a hill, fiber maintains an uninterrupted connection along tens of kilometers, and do so without issuing signals that can be detected by the enemy. Lethal tactics. The first fiber drones barely exceeded 3 kilometers, but today missions have been documented up to 41 kilometers. In fact, A Russian video It even shows a 50 km coil that weighs less than 4 kilos, compatible with larger models. Thanks to the low energy consumption of cable connection, some drones can land and stay In ambushed mode For long periods, ready to activate When passing from an objective. Russia has also shown prototypes of small land robots that work as mobile platforms To launch fiber drones, expanding its autonomy and coordinated attack capacity. The concept of a “cobweb operation”, with multiple drones connected and launched from unmanned vehicles, is dangerously approaching to become reality. How to stop the impossible. We counted a few days ago that Ukrainian troops have tried everything, even scissors. But current defensive measures are ineffective to the new threat. Physical networks can stop some drones, but a slit to allow their entry, such as They demonstrate videos Where Ukrainian drones go through Russian meshes without resistance. In addition, tracking the cable to its operator has become impracticable to the entangled landscape of abandoned fibers. Cutting the cable is also A theoretical option more than practical: there is A video which shows a quadcoptera achieving such a feat, but doing so requires an extremely complicated precision and synchronization combination. Drones equipped with shotguns They have shown efficiency in demolishing other drones, but they are Little useful Given the speed and discretion of fiber FPV. Some Ukrainian units, Like the Birds of MasharThey have managed to intercept Russian devices with the help of tactical radars, but their reach, again, is limited and not scalable. No clear rules. The proliferation of fiber optic drones It is accelerating on both sides, and the defenses still They do not adapt to the rhythm of its deployment. Thus, the battles of the immediate future could include fighting between autonomous drones in the air, where human reaction time is no longer enough. Hence, the need to develop automatic interceptors capable of detecting and neutralizing these real -time drones has become urgent. The problem? That the development of countermeasures goes behind offensive innovation, and no one can predict how long this era of tactical supremacy based on invisible cables will last, nor what will be the trigger that ends. Image | 12th Brigade Azov In Xataka | Ukraine soldiers are starting to carry scissors. It is the only way to face Russia’s most lethal weapon In Xataka | A technology 20 years ago took Ukraine to the Russian bombers. Moscow’s response comes from China: a laser cannon

New York has released its new and revolutionaries garbage containers. They have been in Spain for decades

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They call it “The garbage revolution”although it really has little revolutionary. At least for any European accustomed to doing something as simple as throwing their waste into the garbage can. On Monday the New York authorities They took chest announcing its new and brand new strategy to manage the waste of the Big Apple, a pilot program that is now bounded to a neighborhood and,, according to their driversit will be a pioneer throughout the United States. So far not surprising beyond political rhetoric. The funny thing is what New York wants to boost that peculiar “revolution” of cleaning: with garbage cubes and trucks such as those seen in the streets of Spain for decades. Garbage. In New York, workers of the garbage collection service are forced to do something less and less frequent in Spain and most European cities: withdraw on the sidewalks plastic bags full of waste and throw them to the rear of a truck. For them it is a Latoso work. For the city, a problem: the bags are piled up in the streets, hinder the passage, generate bad odors, overthrow liquid and attract rats. In fact, the New York town hall has already had to see them with Rodents. That is why in countries like Spain a different strategy has been chosen for a long time. Collectors are installed in the streets so that citizens can throw their garbage bags inside, leaving them safe from rats and seagulls. Over the years the system has been purified with wild boar cubes, collectors endowed with Electronic locks that are unlocked with special cards and systems that facilitate the discharge of garbage inside the trucks. Revolution in New York. After half a century Of “accumulation of garbage in streets”, in New York they have decided to say enough and change their garbage collection model for a new one, very similar to that of Europe. The first step was taken in 2023, when the authorities demanded from the businesses of the food branch (from bars to supermarkets) that they deposit their waste in containers. A year ago that obligation extended to all companies and in recent months the same standard has been making its way between small residential buildings. The great change has now arrived with a pilot test in the streets of the Community Board 9 of Manhattan, where the use of containers will apply to all types of residential buildings, from small blocks of less than ten homes to the largest, with more than 30. The City Council claims that the neighborhood has thus become “the first neighborhood of North America to have 100% of its garbage in containers” and even speaks of a “garbage revolution.” An old flavor revolution. The most curious thing is that this revolution really has little revolutionary. At least from the perspective of Europeans, who have been (if not decades) accustomed to the tools with which New York now wants to improve the management of their garbage. The reason is simple: the change in the Harlem will basically be supported on three pieces, all integrated for a long time in the urban landscape of the Spanish cities: Empire garbage cubes with capacity for 3,000 L, collectors with wheels and side load trucks. Closed and card cubes. Over the last weeks the New York Health Department has dedicated itself to installing in West Harlem around 1,100 Empire containerswhich are the ones that present a small novelty. Unlike most garbage cubes that can be seen in Europe, these collectors will not be available to any neighbor who passes through the sidewalk. They will remain closed and their use will be assigned exclusively to a building, which can access the collector thanks to a special card. In fact, residents will not even pull the bags in the cube. The idea It is that they leave them in an area of ​​collection in the building itself and the cubes themselves handle them the staff of the buildings or the waste managers. It is not the model that is usually used in Spain, although here They also look card collectors. Measuring buildings. The largest blocks of West Harlem, those with more than 30 homes, have been assigned Great Empire Garbage Cubes. Those between 30 and 10 apartments are allowed to choose between that smaller model or containers with wheels and the buildings with less than a dozen families are asked to use 200 l cubes. To expedite the work of the operators, a year ago the City Council also presented a prototype of garbage collection truck with lateral load that can be handled by only two operators. In November the Consistory has already asked these smaller buildings for residential use to start using containers, which has a first idea of ​​what is their result. Your conclusions? “The first data show that the use of containers is working: since the demands entered into force, six months ago, the number of rats has decreased,” celebrate. A revolution with challenges. New York is discovering more than the use of containers. He has also encountered the challenges they represent. The New York Times public A chronicle This same Monday explaining how cleaning service employees have to deal with double -row cars that block the cubes and prevent trucks from accessing them. It also warns of the impact they will have on the parking spaces. The municipal authorities already calculate that expanding the program to the entire city would demand to eliminate 50,000 spaces to park vehicles. That without having the hundreds of millions of dollars that would require buying garbage cubes and collection trucks capable of attending the entire population of the Big Apple. Critics write down a “but” more: That the initiative to recycling does not expand. Image | City of New York In Xataka | The cities emptied during the pandemic. The rats took advantage of him to impose his reign

There are so much space garbage that the ESA has said enough

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When astronauts run to take refuge in their ships within a few months, rocket fragments fall into populated areas and multiple flights are diverted, it is that The problem of space garbage It is getting worse. The European Space Agency wants more strict rules and greater international cooperation, and will impose them even if no one follows. The goal: avoid the dreaded Kessler syndrome. From bad to worse. In 2024, the amount of space waste increased considerably after several incidents. In May, a Russian satellite that had been inactive for three years disintegrated in the low orbitforcing astronauts of the International Space Station to take refuge in their ships. In August, A CZ-6A Chinese rocket exploded After deploying 18 satellites in low orbit, generating a cloud of more than 300 fragments. In October, the IS-33E communications satellite Manufactured by Boeing, but he did it in the geostationary orbit. Up there, the 700 documented pieces will last thousands of years. Official data. According to a Recent ESA Reportapproximately 54,000 objects of more than 10 centimeters are known orbiting the earth, including active satellites. However, there are at least 1.2 million objects between 1 and 10 centimeters that could also put manned missions at risk and satellites due to its great kinetic energy. ESA warns in its report that the current trend increases the real risk of Kessler syndrome, a cascade of collisions in the low terrestrial orbit that could use this region for future generations. This scenario would not only put the new satellite constellations, such as those of Starlink, Kuiper or Oneweb, but seriously affect the safety of astronauts. It is not strange that China has dedicated much of 2024 To fortify its Tiangong Space Station to protect it from spatial garbage fragments and small meteoroids. But the implications of space waste are not limited only to space, they also have tangible impacts on the mainland. Not only does it affect space. As the cadence of launches increases, so do the uncontrolled falls of satellites and rockets. They almost always disintegrate in the atmosphere, but some elements, such as carbon fiber tanks, can resist the heat of the reentry even traveling 27,000 kilometers per hour. Spacex could be touching the limits of its launching capacity after suffering several incidents. The closest to a misfortune has occurred this year in the airspace of Poland, where a second stage of Falcon 9 was disintegrated. Several large fragments managed to survive the heat of the reentry and They fell near the city of Poznanincluding a subway and a half deposit on the grounds of an industrial plant. The frequent tests of new rockets are also a reason for concern. The Spacex starship has exploded twice on the Atlantic Ocean this year, causing two debris rainfall and Several deviations on commercial flights of the Caribbean or Florida. Bluen’s New Glenn rocket propeller fell out of control in the Atlantic during its debut flight, but did so at dawn, without great consequences. New ESA rules. Although there were already rules such as 25 years (which establishes that obsolete satellites must get out of orbit within a maximum period of 25 years after their useful life), the level of compliance varies according to the type and size of the object. It is only 52% for large satellites. Therefore, ESA has introduced a more strict five -year limit in its missions, seeking to set an example to establish more rigorous standards globally. All this is part of A “Zero Debris” commitment which seeks to reach an orbital environment without waste by 2030. The frame includes technical measures to avoid space garbage, actively eliminate waste through advanced technologies and foster a spatial circular economy based on the beginning of the four R: “Remove, reuse, refurbish, recycle”, eliminate, reuse, restore and recycle. In search of an international framework. It is not clear that ESA will lead the world by imposing stricter norms, because it could affect the development of new commercial constellations, but the problem of space garbage is becoming a real priority in the international legal field. There is a legal framework: the 1972 Responsibility Convention. It was applied, for example, in the case of the Kosmos 954 Soviet satellite, which spread radioactive remains over northern Canada in 1978, or when part of a Spacex Crew Dragon ship of Spacex fell on a Saskatchewan farm In 2024. In most cases, however, it is difficult to purify responsibilities, he points out A report from the University of New York. According to the report, more robust and binding international agreements are urgently needed. Image | THAT In Xataka | The new space race has created Boomerang scrap. The probability that clash against a plane has also increased

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