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The Vega Baja only recycles 402 tons of organic waste per year

According to data from the Vega Baja Sustainable Consortium for the 2024 financial year, approximately 400 tonnes of organic waste, which accounts for only 0.2% of the 190,000 tonnes of household waste generated by the 27 municipalities of Vega Baja, are separated from the rest of the rubbish for recycling at the recovery plants.

This insignificant percentage positions recycling at source in Bajo Segura light years away from the objectives established by European, state, and regional legislation, which specify what should not be buried in authorised landfills and recovered. The regulations stipulate that it should constitute 55% of the total by 2025, increasing to 60% by 2030 and 65% by 2035.

The brown container, which is indispensable for the efficient collection of selective refuse, is not a mere whim of environmental consciousness. It is also a highly practical and economically sustainable issue. It is estimated that approximately 40% of household refuse is organic waste. In the case of the Vega Baja, this would amount to 76,000 of the 190,000 tonnes of waste collected annually.

Modern disposal facilities can recycle a portion of the residual fraction; however, the organic fraction is the most critical. The economic interest of the industry that uses these materials for packaging would substantially reduce waste generation and, as a result, the costs of its disposal and transportation if the total weight reduction is achieved by recycling paper, cardboard, glass and plastic, which have high percentages of reuse circuits.

A situation that would, in turn, enable a decrease in the tax revenue collected, which is already being experienced by all residents of Vega Baja.

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All decomposable refuse, including food scraps, vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, eggshells, and nuts, is included in the organic waste category. In the majority of municipalities, these wastes are now disposed of in the residual waste receptacle, also known as the grey container, and are not eligible for recycling.

However, the organic fraction can be recycled into compost for agricultural and other purposes if it is separated and its contents do not contain a significant amount of unsuitable material, such as other non-organic remains. The most significant aspect is that it would not require landfill disposal.

A statistic that substantiates the degree to which municipalities disregard the brown bin: Dolores, a municipality with a population of just over 8,500, recycles 207 tonnes, which is more than half of the total for the region. The implementation of a door-to-door collection system in nearly the entire municipality is producing positive results, despite the fact that it was not without controversy. The municipality’s dedication is the reason for the minor improvement in the dismal 2023 record, which saw only 30 tonnes of waste recycled at the regional level.

In 2024, an additional 105 individuals will originate from Torrevieja. This is a significant increase. The municipality that generates the most waste in the region, accounting for nearly 25% of the total 190,000 tonnes of household waste in the Vega Baja, has a resident population that multiplies during the tourist season and exceeds 100,000 registered inhabitants. The total waste generated is 49,000 tonnes.

An awareness campaign in schools, which removes organic waste from cafeterias, and a second, very limited, campaign among local hospitality businesses, which distributed tiny brown containers, are the sources of this organic waste record. In the city’s over 600 restaurants and cafes, these containers recycle only a small portion of this form of waste.

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At the same time, the recycled organic fraction counter in Orihuela, the other significant generating municipality in the region, which collected over 45,000 tonnes of waste in 2024, remains at zero. The municipal service of the City Council, which has been precarious for more than a decade, is currently anticipating a decision to renew it.

Rojales, with 64 tonnes of selected organic waste, follows Dolores and Torrevieja on the select list of municipalities that are endeavouring to comply with the legislation. This is also a negligible amount for a municipality with 20,000 residents that annually collects 9,000 tonnes of refuse from its streets. Another company that claims credit is Daya Vieja, which accounts for 6% of its production with 17 tonnes. The gate has been partially implemented in this municipality, which has a population of little more than one thousand and is the smallest in the region. Granja de Rocamora and Formentera del Segura also exhibit nearly identical figures.

The 2025 balance sheet should include Albatera, Redován, and Almoradí by the end of the year. This could significantly increase the figure, although it is still clearly insufficient as long as Torrevieja, Orihuela, Pilar de la Horadada (14,000 tonnes of waste collected annually) and Guardamar del Segura (another 9,600) do not participate.

The Vega Baja Sustainable Consortium anticipates that these figures will progressively rise. However, the implementation of the regional waste treatment plant is presently being processed, albeit with some difficulty, as a benchmark for the “leap” in compliance with waste legislation, in which Vega Baja consistently fails to comply with record-breaking regulations at the state level.

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Drunk driver who killed two sentenced to five years in prison

Elche Courts JUZGADOS DE ELCHE 01

The driver of a vehicle has been sentenced to five years in prison by the Seventh Section of the Provincial Court of Alicante, which is located in Elche. The incident occurred in the town of Cox, which is located in the Vega Baja region. The accident resulted in the deaths of two individuals and the injury of three others.

He was found guilty of two counts of negligent homicide and three counts of reckless injury, as well as a traffic safety offence involving driving under the influence of alcohol, in accordance with the sentence that was imposed after the parties reached a plea agreement.

The convicted driver is also subject to a seven-and-a-half-year ban. However, the injured parties are not compensated, as none of them submitted a claim and instead reached an out-of-court settlement with the defendant’s insurance company.

The incident transpired on the evening of October 24th, 2020. It happened on the N-340. The vehicle of the individual who has since been convicted entered the opposing lane and collided with a quad bike that was transporting the two victims.

The All Terrain Vehicle was ejected from the road as a result of this frontal impact, and it subsequently collided with another vehicle that was being driven by a couple with two children. Everyone sustained various injuries in the collision.

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Two Torrevieja residents arrested after committing eight burglaries

An investigation has been conducted by national police officers into a criminal organisation that operates in the provinces of Alicante, Valencia, and Murcia and is composed of Eastern European individuals who specialise in burglaries. In the town of Ontinyent (Valencia), the Alicante and Cartagena National Police conducted a joint police operation that led to the detention of two men, aged 29 and 33, for their involvement in a series of burglaries that were committed inside homes.

The investigation commenced following a complaint of a burglary at a residence in the city of Alicante. The identification of one of the perpetrators was the first step in the initial investigation, which subsequently revealed that the group was an organised criminal organisation composed of individuals from Eastern Europe who travelled across the country to commit crimes with complete impunity.

The group’s method of operation involved the use of lockpicks that they had independently constructed or adhesive on the doors to identify the presence of residents. They entered the homes without causing visible damage to the locks, and they stole jewellery, money, and valuables after they confirmed that they were vacant.

It was discovered that the perpetrators may be in the town of Torrevieja, where they typically reside, as a result of the coordination mechanisms between police units. Consequently, surveillance was implemented to monitor both the vehicle they were operating and their movements.

Officers pursued the suspects to the town of Ontinyent during one of the surveillance operations. Officers apprehended them as they were leaving a residence where they had recently committed a burglary. At the time of their arrest, they were in possession of a variety of stolen items, such as watches and jewellery, as well as tools that were used to force locks.

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A check of the detainees’ residence in Torrevieja was conducted subsequent to their arrests. A significant number of valuables, watches, and jewellery items that were associated with other offences were confiscated.

The investigating court in Ontinyent (Valencia), which is on duty, brought the detainees before it and ordered both to be in prison.

The officers, on their part, conducted investigations into the impounded items to ascertain whether any were stolen. Numerous items were identified and promptly returned to their respective proprietors.

The arrest of these two individuals has resulted in the resolution of eight home burglaries that have been perpetrated in the towns of Alicante, Villena, Ontinyent, and Cartagena.

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Residents of El Mojón in Pilar de la Horadada will receive mail at their homes

The National Commission of Markets and Competition has determined that the delivery of standard postal items in the population entity of El Mojón, which is located in the municipalities of San Pedro del Pinatar (Murcia) and Pilar de la Horada (Alicante), must be made to the mailbox of homes or premises. Consequently, the Commission of Markets and Competition has directed the State Company Correos y Telégrafos to commence deliveries to home mailboxes within the next fifteen days.

This agreement is advantageous to the 581 residents of El Mojón, which encompasses an area of 57.09 hectares and includes 1,473 residences and 19 commercial establishments in the municipality of Pilar de la Horadada.

This is in accordance with the requests of the town councils and residents’ associations, who requested that the Commission of Markets and Competition acknowledge El Mojón for home letter delivery. El Mojón has a comprehensive system of facilities that are dispersed throughout its area, including urban green areas, educational, sports, cultural, healthcare, and administrative facilities. This system integrates these elements into a single, continuous urban element, which gives the population entity the characteristics of an urban centre. The fact that it is considered a Zone of Great Tourist Affluence throughout the year for the purposes of business hours and, above all, that it presents continuity with the population centres of Torre de la Horadada and Mil Palmeras, cannot be equated to a set of independent and differentiated urbanisations.

Additionally, there was a comparative grievance regarding the distribution of standard postal items in Mil Palmeras and Torre de la Horadada, where these items are being delivered.

José María Pérez, the mayor of Pilar de la Horadada, expressed his incomprehension regarding the fact that individuals who possess properties with odd numbers on Alhelí Street, which divides the urban centres of El Mojón and Torre de la Horadada, are not receiving letters at their residences, while those who possess properties with even numbers are receiving them in their mailboxes.

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The case bears resemblance to the file that the Commission of Markets and Competition handled to facilitate the delivery of standard postal items to residents in the following areas of Orihuela Costa: Dehesa de Campoamor, Cabo Roig, La Zenia, La Zenia II, La Regia, and Mil Palmeras.


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