By Julia Pastor With the arrival of summer come the familiar scenes of beaches packed with parasols and children building sandcastles. Sailing boats gliding across the luminous blue of the seas and the more subdued hues of the oceans. The mirror of the planet’s marine waters, however, reflects back a far less evocative image: an entire ecosystem, from the coastline to the high seas, polluted by more than 150 million…
Portocolom | Reducing plastic waste by 70% by 2030 is the aim of the draft Waste Law and to achieve this it includes two taxes on plastic and the obligation to offer tap water in hotels and restaurants, among other measures. The Council of Ministers has given the green light to the draft Law on Waste and Contaminated Soil, and it is pending in the Parliament. The current pandemic has accentuated this contamination by plastics: masks, gloves, food packaging, etc., worsening the situation that we already had. 75% of this plastic will find its way into landfills and the sea. A serious cost to the environment and the economy.
MADRID | The Corner | Around 400,000 people die prematurely in the EU due to air pollution-related problems, costing health systems around €330 billion and €940 billion. Brussels-based non profit EBB (European Biodiesel Board), lobbying for this type of fuel, measured air pollution levels in different areas of the city: they were between 60 and 120 times above considered clean standards. Schadenfreude fans: last year Beijing residents suffered 40 times the recommended maximum exposure limit set by the World Health Organization.