recycling

Coca has dropped so much in price that the cartels are recycling their submarines

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He price crash of cocaine is affecting the modus operandi of drug traffickers. And in a peculiar way. Guardian has revealedciting sources from the National Police, that the cartels are doing something difficult to see until not so long ago: they recycle their narco-submarines. Instead of sinking them after drug dumps, they try to get the most out of them, even setting up “resupply platforms” in the middle of the ocean to reuse them. Being a drug trafficker is no longer what it used to be. What has happened? The drug business may be a peculiar business for obvious reasons (it operates outside the law), but deep down it is governed by the same guidelines as any other market: supply, demand, costs and the search for profitability. Hence before the collapse of prices in the wholesale cocaine market, drug traffickers have looked for new ways to guarantee their profit margin. One of those strategies revealed it a few days ago the British newspaper Guardian: Instead of sinking their narco-submarines in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after unloading merchandise, the cartels have begun to reuse them. How to reuse them? Alberto Morales, head of the central narcotics brigade of the National Police, explains it clearly: until now the normal thing was for these rudimentary semi-submersibles to cover specific routes, such as one-way trips to the Canary Islands. Once there, they unloaded their valuable merchandise and then sank to cover their tracks. There is even speculation about the existence of “narcosubmarine cemeteries” in the Atlantic, between the Canary Islands and the Azores. After all, building each of these submersible vehicles cost 600,000 euros. It may seem like a lot of money, but it paid for itself thanks to its ability to move large loads of bales, at least three or four tons. The kilo of coca was paid at a good price, so it paid off. And now? Now, with prices falling, things are different, confirms Morales. “Instead of sinking them, what they do is unload the cargo and set up a resupply platform at sea so that the submarines can return to their countries of origin and make as many trips as possible.” It is not a capricious change. The ‘recycling’ of narco-submarines comes in a very specific context, marked by the price crash of the kilo of coca and an increase in the use of submersibles, one of the options that the cartels have on the table to transport their stashes between both points of the Atlantic. Are they used that much? It seems so. Guardian remember that, although semi-submersibles have long been used in South and Central America, where their history can date back as far as the 1980s, they were not recorded in European waters until relatively recently. In 2019 Interior boasted having intercepted in Galicia “the first ‘narco-submarine’ detected in Europe”, although there are news from 2006 who already talk about the discovery of submersibles. The truth is that in just 20 years, narco-submarines have gone from being almost unknown to more or less popular tools. During this time the police have detected or seized a dozen, so it is not unreasonable to think that many others have successfully robbed the 8,000 km of coast Spanish. Why do they use them? “We are observing a lot of narco-submarine activity because it is the most profitable system for organizations. The investment is less and the chances of the drug reaching its destination are greater, so the fight is constant,” confirm to The Country Emilio Rodríguez Ramos, from the CREGO organized crime response unit of the National Police in Pontevedra. In 2019, the authorities managed to seize a submersible with three tons of cocaine and since then they have intercepted three others, two already unloaded. But… Why? The increase in the use of narco-submarines is not the only trend confirmed by the authorities, who have been perceiving a clear increase in coca seizures for years. According to the data it handles GuardianIn 2022, the police and Customs intercepted about 58 tons of white powder, in 2023 there were already 118 and last year they reached 123 tons. “There is more cocaine than ever,” recently recognized em The Newspaper another police spokesperson when talking about the situation in Barcelona. If there is supply it is (evidently) because there is demand: the European Drugs Report of 2025 corroborates that ours is the country with the highest percentage of the population that has ever tried coca: 13.3%, significantly higher than France or Denmark. And the price? That’s the other key. In recent years the price of coca (at least in the wholesale market, another thing is the street) has collapsed to historical levels, until leaving the kilo at 13,000 euros. It is very little if you take into account that not so long ago that same amount was quoted at 30,000. In fact until at least a few months ago the reference with which Interior worked to calculate the value of the seized caches, set a kilo of coca at more than 30,500 euros. Behind this ‘pinch’ in prices there are several factors: there are those who speak of the impact on the market of the surplus of coca accumulated during the pandemic and those who point to the effects of the peace agreement reached in 2016 between the State of Colombia and the guerrilla. The pact freed hectares of jungle for cultivation, to which was added the decision of the Government to retire aerial fumigation of plantations with glyphosate due to its environmental impact. Images | Coast Guard (Flickr), Ministry of the Interior 1 and 2 and Ministry of Defense of Peru (Flickr) In Xataka | In 2001, a yacht took refuge on a remote island in the Atlantic. Days later its inhabitants breaded fish with coca

It’s not underground, it’s in the recycling of your old windows

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Galicia has strived to demonstrate that the future of the industry is not found underground, extracting finite resources, but in the ability to rescue what we have already used. In a global context obsessed with decarbonization, the town of Coirós, in A Coruña, has hit the table to position itself as an “eternal” aluminum power. The great industrial milestone. According to the company itselfCortizo has invested 38 million euros in a new recycling plant designed to absorb aluminum waste and return it to the market as new material. It is not a typical storage warehouse; It is an area of ​​29,000 square meters where teams of operators, protected with aluminized suits to withstand radiant heat, supervise state-of-the-art smelting furnaces and crushing systems. After a period of testing this summer, the plant has officially started its activity and is now ready to reach its full operational capacity. It is the Galician response to the challenge of the scarcity of raw materials: stop depending on mining to trust in the efficiency of recycling. A vision with history. But to understand this movement it is necessary to look back. The general director of the firm, Raquel Cortizo, insists that this commitment to circularity is not a passing fad. According to the specialized media Retemathe company was already a pioneer in the 90s by launching its foundry in Padrón. At that time, when the concept of “circular economy” was barely mentioned, Cortizo already became the first company in Spain to close the complete production cycle. However, the current leap is on a different scale. The new facilities have the capacity to produce 100,000 tons of recycled aluminum billet per year. The environmental impact La Voz de Galicia summarizes it: This production volume will avoid emitting more than one and a half million tons of CO2 per year. To put it in perspective, the company estimates that it is equivalent to stop emitting the gases generated for a year by all tourism in the provinces of A Coruña and Pontevedra together. The choreography of recycling. The plant works with what is technically known as “post-consumer scrap”: from old windows and facades to bicycle wheels or tent structures that have ended their useful life. The process is divided into two critical phases: Precision classification: Each element is mechanically crushed and separated until pure aluminum is obtained. Smelting and rebirth: The metal is melted to become the billet Infinity. This product comes in cylinders seven meters long. The most astonishing thing is its environmental footprint: its manufacturing consumes 95% less energy than obtaining primary aluminum. It is, in essence, a material that saves energy while being manufactured. Strengthening the Galician muscle The Coirós plant is the spearhead of a larger strategy. The company has invested 228 million euros in the community in the last five years alone. Projects like the Technological Campus wave expansion of its factories in Padrón They are now consolidated with this new center. The relevance of this “Galician aluminum” is already noticeable in homes throughout the country. The company points out, in one of his press releasesthe alliance with the developer Metrovacesa, which already installs these 100% recycled solutions in 14 housing developments in cities such as Madrid, Barcelona or Seville. It is the perfect cycle: the aluminum that is recovered from a renovation or scrapping returns to Coirós to end up supporting the windows of the new homes in the country. Towards an infinite industry? Galicia has found in aluminum a way to lead the ecological transition without giving up its manufacturing identity. The Coirós plant is proof that the industry can be clean, efficient and, above all, infinite. The message that comes out of these facilities is clear: in a throwaway world, Galicia has decided that nothing is lost and everything is transformed. Image | Cortizo Xataka | Europe is looking for where to put its first nuclear fusion reactor. And Spain is one of the best candidates

We have a problem with cardboard recycling. In the United Kingdom they believe that the solution is to use it in a power plant

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Every day, millions of cardboard boxes leave our homes heading to the blue container. They are the last link in an accelerated consumption cycle in online commerce. However, this material, so everyday that we don’t even look at it twice, could be on the verge of an unexpected second life: becoming fuel to generate electricity on a large scale. A residue that enters the energy map. A team of engineers from Nottingham University has shown for the first time that used cardboard can be used as an effective source of biomass in power plants. The investigation, published in the journal Biomass and Bioenergycompares cardboard with a common reference for industrial biomass: eucalyptus. The engineers didn’t just watch the cardboard burn. They crushed it, studied its shape, broke down its chemistry and analyzed how it reacted to heat and what type of carbon it left behind. They even developed their own method—based on thermogravimetric analysis—to measure exactly how much calcium carbonate each sample contains. This component, common in printed cardboard, gives rigidity to the material but also conditions its behavior when burning. Thanks to this procedure, they can predict which type of cardboard will work well in an industrial boiler and which could cause problems. The science behind cardboard that burns “better.” The study did not stop at theories. He tested the combustion of cardboard in two types of systems equivalent to those used in power plants: Drop Tube Furnace: Simulates the rapid combustion of pulverized biomass.Here, the researchers observed that cardboard particles develop chars (the carbonaceous remains that remain after the first combustion phase) highly reactive, with a predominance of fine and porous structures that favor a burnout accelerated. Muffle Furnace: Simulates fluidized bed or grate systems. Even with longer residence times, the paperboard maintained its excellent combustion profile. In addition, the size and shape of the particles were characterized through an analysis with more than one million particles per sample; The tendency of cardboard to form “spongy aggregates” during grinding was observed—a challenge for its industrial handling—and characteristics such as sphericity and aspect ratio were correlated, something that could improve future combustion models. As the academic study explains, this detailed analysis allows predicting combustion efficiency and designing industrial strategies to integrate cardboard into the fuel flow. The result was very favorable. Thanks to this experiment, the engineers managed to demonstrate that cardboard has less carbon (38%) than eucalyptus (46.7%) and its calorific value is also lower (15.9–16.5 MJ/kg versus 21 MJ/kg). However, its chars are finer, porous and reactive, which accelerates combustion; In addition, it contains much more ash (8.9–10.6%, compared to 0.6% for eucalyptus), a critical aspect for boilers. What remains to be resolved? Although the technical potential is evident, the study makes it clear that cardboard is not ready to enter the boilers of a power plant tomorrow. There are three fundamental challenges that must be addressed: Management and processing problems. When ground, cardboard does not behave like wood: it forms spongy lumps of very low density that make internal transport difficult, complicate the continuous feeding of boilers and can increase the risk of blockages and accumulations. The study warns that it will be essential to adapt the grinding and feeding systems to guarantee a stable and safe flow. The behavior of calcium. Cardboard contains very high levels of CaCO₃, especially when printed. This calcium can behave in different ways depending on the temperature and type of boiler. In certain cases it raises the fusion temperature of the ashes – which is positive -; In others it can favor the formation of slag or alter the quality of the fuel. The study recommends analyzing the behavior of cardboard according to the type of plant, because not all technologies tolerate these variations in the same way. Large-scale industrial validation. Laboratory tests are promising, but the decisive step is missing: testing the cardboard in real operating conditions. According to the researchers, the industry will have to carry out tests on different technologies in boilers, evaluate emissions, study the accumulation and composition of ash and check their compatibility with existing biomass mixtures. Only then can it be determined whether the cardboard can be safely and stably integrated into the mix of biomass. An everyday material with an unexpected future. Cardboard protects pizzas, televisions, books and appliances. We recycle it without thinking too much about it. But this research from Nottingham suggests that this everyday waste could become another piece of the energy transition, helping to diversify fuels and take advantage of an abundant and local resource. Today we see it as garbage. Tomorrow it could help produce electricity. The spark has already been lit: now we need to know if the industry wants – and can – convert it into real energy. Image | Unsplash and Geograph Xataka | Selling smoke is now a business in Soria: it purifies it and sells it as CO2 to make soft drinks

The Spaniards eat less and less fish. So the fishmongers are recycling their product … for pets

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In Spain we eat less fish. Much less. And we have more pets. Many more. Life fishmongers are not alien to one or another trend, so they have decided to do A movement quite logical: to make a place in the lucrative, promising and above all growing business of food for pets. After all, if they have already done the large supermarket chains, why can’t your neighborhood fish do? The logic is simple: that the place where you buy fish for you, for your children, couple and other family is also the place where you buy it for your hairy. What happened? That Fedepescathe Spanish Federation that represents businesses dedicated to the sale of fishing products, has just released an original campaign. Original and expected. Monday, during an act held in MadridThe organization presented a campaign to encourage its clients not to take home food for them or their family. He wants them to do it also for their pets. In fact, slogan cannot be clearer: “In the fish market there is also food for your hairy compi!” Fedepesca campaign poster. “For the whole family”. The strategy is well cooked. If the fishmongers are reliable businesses in which to acquire fresh, seafood and frozen fish, why were they also going to be to buy pet packaged foods that fish has as “protagonist ingredient”? Fedepesca itself remember which is something that supermarkets have been doing and would allow traditional fishmongers to become points of sale for “the whole family.” “The initiative aims emphasize. According to EFEAGROthe Federation has begun to introduce packaging food for pets in Madrid by the hand of a wholesaler and there are associations of Seville and Catalonia interested in following their steps. In total Fedepesca brings together near 6.2000 businesses. Reinvent or die. The movement is curious, but not surprising. Although Spain is a country with thousands of kilometers Of coast and a gastronomy linked to the sea, the fishmongers are finding that we eat less and less fish. The Last data The government shows that between April 2024 and last March the consumption of marine products fell 2.7%, a percentage that rises to 4.3% if we speak only of fish. And it is not a timely drop. In 2003 the annual per capita consumption of products related to fishing touched the 27.8 kilosfact that in 2009 even reached touch the 30 kg. In 2023 that indicator had descended until 18.9 And last year he got off 18a negative trend that has no signs of changing in view of the balance of recent months. Given this scenario, fishmongers have opted for new business roads, such as home shipments and Sale of algae… or pet food. More pets. The panorama is very different if we talk about company animals. In fact there are calculations that show your census overcomes to children. Although The data They must be handled cautiously are demolving: a few months ago The country He made a survey Between veterinary schools and concluded that in Spain there are 9.3 million dogs and 1.6 million censored cats. In total 10.8 registered pets. Leaving aside that there are many other species that are used as company animals, the data far exceeds the number of minors registered by the INE. ANFAC, the association that brings together pet food manufacturers, assures That in Spain there are more than 30 million pets, of which about 9.3 are dogs and 5.8 felines. Differences can be explained because not all animals have chip. And an appetizing business. These figures translate into something else: business. More more pets is the market focused on its food and care. ANFAC calculates that the sales volume went from 561,305 tons in 2023 to 573,210 in 2024. And that reflects only the weight. The rise is greater if we talk about billing. Fortune Business INSGIGHT esteem That the world market for pet care reached 259,370 million dollars in 2024 and its forecasts are of clear growth. Their estimates pass through that this year the 273,420 million are already in the beginning of the next decade, the 428,000 million are rubbed. Images | Anusha Barwa (UNSPLASH), Grupo Eroski S.Coop (Flickr) and Fedepesca In Xataka | In Spain there are less and fewer children, so the ice cream industry has launched for a more buoyant market: dogs

We have achieved a new milestone into recycling: transform plastics into paracetamol

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The name Escherichia coli It is usually associated with stomach infections, some potentially mortal. Now a genetically modified version could help us synthesize one of the most consumed medications in the world, acetaminophen or paracetamol. And incidentally help us with a no less serious problem, plastic waste. Recycling. A new study He has shown The possibility of using bacteria in the production of paracetamol based on a common plastic, polyethylene or PET terephthalate, using bacteria as a tool. This mechanism can open the way to a cleaner system to synthesize the popular analgesic and antipyretic. Plastic and paracetamol have something in common: both are synthesized from hydrocarbons. That is why the team responsible for the new study wanted to demonstrate that the residue of one could serve as raw material in the manufacture of the other. “This work shows that PET plastic is not just a disposable product or intended to become more plastic: it can be transformed by microorganisms into new and valuable products, including those with potential to treat diseases,” explained in a press release Stephen Wallace, co -author of the study. E. coli. Normally, bacterium populations E. coli They live in our digestive system. However, some variants of this species have the ability to produce some harmful toxins For our body, resulting in pathogens. However, the team responsible for developing this new technique has set something very different and is the phosphate of these bacteria. Using genetically rescheduled specimens, the equipment transformed this bacteria into a key step in the transformation of a residue into a medication. 24 hours. All in a process that requires just 24 hours. This process begins with the decomposition of plastic. In its experiment, the team used bottles, although other types of PET plastics could serve in the process. The team administered tereftallic acid, a derivative of this plastic, to the bacteria carried out by an internal fermentation process that resulted in synthesizing the pharmacological compound. The details of the process were published In an article In the magazine Nature Chemistry. Decarbonizing the process. One of the details of the process prominent by the team is that this can be performed at room temperature. This implies lower energy consumption and therefore “virtually no carbon emission”, opening the way to a more sustainable production of paracetamol. The great challenge is to climb this process to make it profitable at the industrial level. Something that will not be easy for what for now we can only talk about a promising technology that can help us face two major challenges in sustainability: residues derived from plastics and drug production. In Xataka | The end of plastic as we know is probably close. The plastic capable of self -destroying is already ready Image | Niaid / Doctor 4U UK

We have a problem with plastic recycling. Japanese scientists have created one who self -destructs in the sea

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In summer, more than once we have been scared thinking that a plastic was, in reality, a jellyfish. Far from that triviality, a major problem is hidden. According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)more than eleven million metric tons of plastics end up in the oceans every year. Although a new wave of change is brewing in Japan with plastics that get rid of. Short. A group of researchers from the Riken Center for the science of emerging matter and the University of Tokyo has developed a plastic capable of degrading completely in salt water in a matter of hours, As explained in a press release. The demonstration. The team has shown how a small piece of the new material disappeared in a container with marine water after being agitated for about an hour. Although no marketing plan has yet been detailed, the project leader, Takuzo Aida, He has affirmed Reuters That research has aroused great interest, even from the packaging sector. A deep problem. The urgency of this advance is framed in an increasingly serious environmental crisis. According to UNEPplastic pollution could be tripled by 2040, reaching up to 37 million metric tons annual in the oceans. Therefore, the investigation has not wanted to limit itself in the visible, but also in the microplastics that are infiltrated in all the ecosystems of the planet. Long journey. According to They have explained Scientists, this new material is the result of more than thirty years of research in supramolecular polymers. Unlike traditional plastics, which remain united by very resistant covalent bonds, they use weakest and most reversible links. This allows the material to maintain its resistance, but decompose rapidly under the appropriate conditions. The point. To achieve this, they needed a “passage key” that was in salt. Technically, They have detailed Reuters that the combination of hexametafostato sodium (a food additive) and ions of Guanidinio (employees in fertilizers) formed saline bridges that provided stability to the material. However, by immersing themselves in salt water, these bridges are broken and, within a few hours, there is no trace of the plastic. The resulting material is resistant, colorless, igniphed and not toxic. It can even waterproof with a hydrophobic coating, without losing your ability to break down if your surface is scratched or drilled. Although it has its limitations. As The project manager has indicated to Reuterswhen decomposing, plastic releases nitrogen and phosphorus, elements that can be reused by microorganisms or plants. However, if they accumulate in a uncontrolled way, they could alter coastal ecosystems, favoring phenomena such as algae flowers. To avoid this, the researchers propose a controlled recycling system in seawater treatment plants, which would allow to recover the materials and reuse them in new supramolecular plastics. Biodegradable, but enough? The novelty of Japanese plastic contrasts with the limitations of other called biodegradable plastics. According to the researchersmaterials such as polylactic acid (PL), although they degrade on land under industrial conditions, persist in the ocean, where they fail to break down and end up forming microplastics. Other more recent alternatives, such as certain recyclable plastics developed in Europe, offer greater durability and recyclabilitybut they still face similar challenges: slow degradation in the marine environment and dependence on specific management systems. One step further. That moment could be closer than it seems. Meanwhile, jellyfish will continue to be jellyfish. But at least, the plastic that imitates them could begin to disappear. Image | Unspash Xataka | We thought we had found a safe and sustainable alternative to oil derived. We have to keep looking

We have been thinking that the recycling of plastics worth something. Maybe we were wrong

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That the plastic recycling system is broken is an open secret. But it’s just little by little we are realizing The problem dimension. The American Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) association published last year A report on plastics recycling. It lashed out at the plastic industry, which they accused of having promoted the recycling of these materials even knowing the low technical and economic viability. A difficult task. Recycling plastics is not an easy task. In our day to day we use a wide variety of materials of this type, each with certain characteristics, functional and chemical. All end in the same container, that of the containers, but from there it is necessary to separate each type of plastic for proceed to your recycling When possible. It is not always possible. Disgusty data. According to Ecoembes data, in 2022 they were recycled in Spain 708,596 tons of plastic containers, although NGOs like Greenpeace question. According to Greenpeacethe difference between the plastics recycling rate declared by Ecoembes (89.2%) and the one estimated by the NGO itself (34.8%) is notorious. It should be noted that it is still over the world average of 9% estimated by the OECD. According to the reportfigures like these are just the reflection of an impossibility: effectively recycle plastics is out of reach. Not only from an economic perspective but also from the technological point of view. A single use. However, the report emphasizes an accusation: even knowing this impossibility, the industry He promoted the idea that recycling was possible and viable to facilitate the path to single -use plastics such as those we use in the containers. “They knew that if they focused on the (plastics) of a single use people would buy and buy,” explained to The Guardian Davis Allen, CCI researcher and co -author of the report. Another point of view. The industry reaction soon arrived. The American Chemistry Council, In a statementhe pointed out that “American plastic manufacturers are investing billions of dollars in better innovative products and technologies that separate, capture and recycle greater amounts and more types of plastics.” They claim that the “wrong report” refers to obsolete technologies and that is an equivocal characterization of the industry and the capacities present for the recycling of plastics. “As is typical, instead of working together towards real solutions for plastic waste, groups such as CCI choose attacks at the political level instead of constructive solutions,” protested Matt Seaholm, President and Executive Director of the Plastics Industry Association, in statements also collected by The Guardian. Will we achieve it? We may never achieve An efficient system of recycling that we can apply to the plastics of our day to day. But perhaps we are one day capable of treating this waste so that their waste does not contaminate our environment. One of the Great bets In this sense, it is the discovery of enclosures capable of decomposing plastic polymers, breaking these chains to turn them into harmless molecules. It is undoubtedly a great promise but nothing guarantees for now that it does not result in a chimera, only time will say it. Although time is not what about. Pollution caused by microplastics is already a reality. These waste has appeared in the most remote places on Earth, a sign of the great reach of these pollutants. It is also very little that we know about the potential impacts on health and the environment of these waste. In Xataka | I have always been curious about what they did with yellow containers: so I have followed one In Xataka | “Within 200 years, archaeologists will seek in our garbage and find a terrible image of ourselves”: the dirty reality of what we throw Image | Krizjohn Rosales *An earlier version of this article was published in February 2024

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