reusable Archives - usatoday24

“A glass is not reusable because it is thicker”

July 2, 2026 by usatoday24

If you usually go to concerts and festivals, it will have happened to you. more than once. If you want to order a drink at the bar, in addition to the soft drink, beer or big cup you have to pay for a special glass, one supposedly “reusable”although in practice most people never use it again. It remains as a memory of the festival. And that is in the best of cases. Many others end up in green bins or thrown on the floor, just like single-use plastic cups. There are those who believe that It’s time to change that. What has happened? That the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco) has just received a small slap on the wrist from the more than 130 social, environmental, neighborhood and consumer organizations that are part of the Zero Waste Alliance and the #LeydeResiduosYA platform. In a statement issued a few days ago by Greenpeace (one of its members), both groups complain about the “legal loophole” that exists around supposedly “reusable” glasses at festivals and concerts and ask the department headed by Sara Aagesen to improve its regulation. What is the problem? That often the packaging distribute sold at festivals with the label ‘sustainable’ are anything but. Hence Zero Waste and #LeydeResiduosYa talk about “false ‘reusable’ glasses.” In theory the RD 1055/2022 points out that from July 1, 2023, the promoters of any “festive, cultural or sporting event” (whether or not it has public sponsorship) must “implement alternatives to the sale and distribution of beverages in single-use containers and glasses”, in addition to guaranteeing access to unpackaged water. That’s the theory, of course. Greenpeace and the rest of the organizations that have addressed Miteco they denounce that, “in practice, the reusable cup has become a mere product of merchandising that is charged to attendees, but that lacks a real collection and circulation system. Is it a problem? Of course, this is what Julio Barea, head of Greenpeace’s waste area, considers, who regrets the “legal vacuum” and that a concept as seemingly simple as ‘sustainable packaging’ has been degraded. “A cup is not reusable because it is made of thicker plastic or because it has a sustainable message printed on it. It is only reusable if it is systematically returned, washed and recirculated,” warns the expert “Without a real return circuit, we are faced with just another single-use waste, disguised as green.” The most curious thing, as environmental organizations highlight, is that there is already legislation (Law 7/2022 and RD 1055/2022) on the topic. The problem is, in your opinion“the lack of operational development and inspections”, which has caused the spirit of the laws to be “evaded”. “Large festivals and events cannot continue to wash their image at the expense of the consumer’s pocket. Charging one euro for a glass without offering the real option to return it is climate fraud.” Is it just theory? No. There are practical cases that help to better understand the problem. In November 2025 Facua revealed that the Seville City Council’s Consumer Service planned to fine a concert promoter 20,000 euros precisely for not allowing users to return glasses that were supposedly “reusable” and charged at 1.5 euros. “People who wanted to drink the cold drink were forced to purchase the official glass of the concert for an added amount of 1.5 euros. In the case of beers, there was no alternative to buying these glasses, since the only option was on tap,” details Facuawhich denounces that, despite RD 1055/2022, the supposedly reusable glasses were not allowed to be returned. Why are they denouncing him now? That the Zero Waste Alliance and #YAWasteLaw have raised his voice right now it’s no coincidence. And not only because we have just entered summer, the quintessential time of festivals and open-air concerts. The organizations want the ministry to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the upcoming reform of the Royal Packaging Decree to “implement effective collection, washing and traceability systems.” “The imminent adaptation of the state legal framework to the new European Regulation 2025/40 on packaging, applicable from August, represents the ideal opportunity to correct this anomaly,” underlines Zero Waste and #LeydeResiduosYa, which ask that the new regulatory framework address several points: define what a “reusable cup” is and oblige organizers to enable visible return points and be clear when providing information. Furthermore, they require concert promoters to report how many containers they have used, how many they have recovered and what their actual reuse cycles are like. They also claim that their way of acting influences issues such as authorizations, sponsorships or public subsidies. Images | Noland Live (Pexels), Jess Low (Pexels) and Lukas Eggers (Unsplash) Via | DAP In Xataka | A week of air conditioning is 70 liters of “dirty” water wasted: this way we can recycle it for other things

its first reusable spacecraft

May 11, 2026 by usatoday24

Vehicle reuse is the future of the space race. Not only for the economic savings. Also because emissions derived from the manufacture of new vehicles here on Earth and the amount of garbage there in space are reduced. SpaceX has been working with reusable vehicles for some time and Blue Origin has also done the first tests with a similar rocket. Some other private agencies have reached similar milestones. But no public agency has achieved what the European Space Agency (ESA) wants to do with its reusable Space Rider craft. A heat resistant structure. The two main challenges facing a reusable spacecraft are resistance to the heat of re-entry on Earth and controlled landing after the return trip. ESA has to overcome both handicaps with its Space Rider, which is why it has recently launched a series of thermal resistance tests. As announced in a statementthey have gone perfectly. The ship is prepared to face the heat of reentry. A laboratory that returns home. Spice Rider will basically be an unmanned laboratory that will remain in low orbit performing various kinds of experiments for 1-2 months. Afterwards, it will return to Earth with the samples or results that must be analyzed by scientists. Therefore, it is expected that it can be launched and reused numerous times. Extreme temperatures. To test the heat resistance of reentry, ESA scientists have placed Space Rider’s thermal protection system in a plasma wind tunnel. Once there, jets of gas have been shot at it at a speed 10 times the speed of sound. With this, a temperature of 1,600ºC has been reached, to which all the components have resisted with flying colors. Also with damage. The protection effect is achieved thanks to the use of a special ceramic material. But what would happen if it suffered damage, for example, from the collision of micrometeorites? To answer this question, the experiment has been repeated, simulating all these breaks. The results have been equally positive. The landing. This ship will not land in the ocean. The objective is for it to land on the runway, with the help of a type of adjustable parachute. The ship contains software with which this damping system can be guided and controlled, predicting the landing site much better and adapting it to external conditions such as wind. Important dates. At the moment, the landing system has not been tested. However, it is expected that a first prototype can be tested at the end of this year. It will be done in Sardinia, with the help of a helicopter, which will raise it high enough to land later. There will be no exit from the atmosphere; but, at least, thanks to the experiments that have just been carried out we know that the ship would resist the inhospitable conditions of the return. If all goes well, it is expected to launch the complete ship and begin its first mission at the end of this decade. There are still a few years left, but everything is going smoothly. Or ship in orbit, rather. Image | THAT In Xataka | Europe still has a lot to say in the space race: the launch and loading of the Ariane 64 are the best proof

China has spent 2025 putting things into orbit. Now they have gone further by launching a reusable space plane

February 10, 2026 by usatoday24

Where I said ‘Mars’, I say ‘Moon’. For years, Elon Musk and SpaceX have maintained that colonize Mars It was humanity’s next great leap. While others (and NASA itself) considered the Moon still interesting, SpaceX looked down on her. Until recently, whenThe company has taken a step back recognizing that colonizing the Moon is easier than Mars. And of course, on the other side of the world we can have an explanation: China has the Moon in its sights. And they have just done another test with their mysterious reusable ship. The test. Last Saturday, and in the most aseptic way possible, China launched a reusable spacecraft. This was confirmed by the state news media Xinhua through an release Which leaves more questions than answers. Officially, we only know that, from one of its multiple launch bases, the country launched the vehicle on the back of a Long March-2F rocket. Mission? “The experimental spacecraft will carry out technological verification of reusable spacecraft, providing data and technical support for the peaceful use of space.” What technologies? Why do you want to know that, good night. TOP SECRET. This vehicle it’s not new. In fact, this would be the fourth trip since 2020 of an experimental ship whose characteristics are being kept in a state of absolute secrecy. On the first trip, this model would have been orbiting the Earth for two days. In 2022 it was launched again and returned in 2023 after 276 days going around. And in September 2024 there was another launch that returned after 268 days. As we say, the secrecy is total, so we do not know what type of vehicle it is, but there has been speculation that it may be the answer to the X-37B robotic vehicle of the United States Air Force. Neither Reuters nor Xinhua comment that it could be the Shenlong, the Chinese ‘Divine Dragon’ which is the competition of the aforementioned X-37B. Because if we talk about reusable rockets like SpaceX’s Falcon, China also has an answer: the LandSpace. They don’t stop throwing things. Beyond the reusable ship, China has gotten right into the space race. Like Europeis another of the countries that seeks space sovereignty, and one of the toughest tests was carried out at the beginning of December. To test the overload capacity of its systems and analyze whether they can handle several missions at the same time, in early December, China completed four space missions in four days. In total, there were 80 orbital launches in 2025, surpassing the previous record of 68 launches and achieving with this proof of this something only within the reach of the current SpaceX. And it seems that 2026 has started as last year ended. Target: Moon. Among China’s medium-term objectives is to take astronauts to the Moon before 2030. They want to compete against the NASA and its Artemis mission for establish a research base on the satellite while they finalize the building your own space station. The Moon has become that last piece of cheese on the plate, but instead of giving it up, the great powers want to get hold of it. Reason? Its great value to carry out experiments to expand sovereignty on other planets, but also with regard to resources that can be exploited and sent to Earth refers. Image | Baijiahao In Xataka | We have not known for 10 years what the US fighter jets saw in the sky. Until a Chinese copy has appeared

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