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It was an attempt, as a member of the 'Colectivo Ornitologico Ciguena Negra' (Black Stork Ornithological Collective), to block what signifies for some 'progress' but for others a backward step in their decades-long work to protect the environment.

The planned motorway, running between Algeciras and Cadiz, would directly affect protected areas, not least of which are Natural Parks such as 'Los Alcornocales' and 'El Estrecho' whose value is exceptional and which have been declared part of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

The environmental impact on the area has been an issue for years. A project was introduced in 2000 to improve the existing N-340, instead of duplicating it, a decision which should make current plans null and void by default. Environmental groups agree that this is the best solution for motorways.

Present for this and other presentations on the project were: Monica Frassoni, leader of the Green Party for Europe, representatives from the European Investment Bank and the EU's Ministry of the Environment, David Lowe, co-ordinator and secretary general of the Petitions Committee for the European Commission, Octavio Infante of SEO/Bird Life and representatives from WWF/Adena, Friends of the Earth and Ecologists in Action as well as Euro MPs from Finland, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Spain. The Director General for Transport apparently was not able to attend due to illness.


Spain already leads the list of European countries with the most km per inhabitant. According to Todorov, "The COCN has no intention to stand in the way of "progress", but we do ask that the powers that be take care to protect and care for the environment, biodiversity and climate change." In his opinion, the projected motorway "is a clear example of environmental and cultural destruction of the last corner of Spain that remains rural, natural and free-spirited, all because it's free of construction."

In addition to forward-thinking and conscientious staff members who, like Todorov, champion environmental protection, Resort Management at Club La Costa believes in programmes to help do the same – recycling of all waste and water, support for locally grown and reared foods, measures for energy reduction and more. All of Club La Costa's 22 fully owned and operated resorts throughout Europe incorporate some or all of these programmes and plans are under way to include more.

Discharging untreated wastewater into China's rivers may one day be a thing of the past.

Local governments are now requiring high-polluting industries to use wastewater reduction and processing systems, in-house or via third parties, and many monitor compliance actively. The environmental protection bureau in Guangdong province, for instance, implements on-site inspections twice a year. A factory's operations have to meet environmental standards or face closure. The bureau in the Guangdong district of Shunde, one of the main denim production centers in China, conducts random inspections one or two times a month. Factories that fail evaluations three times are forced to stop operations.

To comply with the stricter regulations, suppliers are purchasing advanced machinery that can maximize water usage, resulting in less wastage. Recycling is being practiced and financially viable enterprises are installing in-house facilities for processing wastewater. Others use community water-treatment facilities to process the spent water.

In the highly polluting denim industry, a few large companies have purchased washing facilities worth $500,000 from Spain. This equipment does not use water and chemical agents, thereby reducing washing costs up to 90 percent.


Leather-processing factories, which are as polluting as their denim counterparts, have similar practices in place. One of the major leather companies in Xinji, Hebei province, Hebei Dongming Bright Leather Co. Ltd is using local overhead rotary drum machines. These units are 50 percent less expensive than imported versions.

Compared with regular side-loading machines, they have a higher load capacity. This means more leather can be processed in each batch, resulting in lower water use. Processing a ton of raw leather to wet blue via the overhead drum yields approximately 35 tons of wastewater, 45 to 60 tons less than what side loaders give out.

Additionally, leather makers in Xinji separate the chrome tanning liquid and lime liquor from the wastewater for recycling. The rest is processed in-house or sent to water-treatment facilities.

Hebei Dongming invested more than $300,000 in equipment for reusing lime liquor. Its engineers filter hair and other organic compounds from the wastewater. The recovered hair is then employed as fertilizer. This process is said to reduce wastewater discharge by 130,000 tons annually. At the same time, more than 30 percent of sodium sulfide, lime and chrome tannins are reused, and the chemical oxygen demand discharge is lowered to below 50 percent.

Recycling is adopted in the paper industry as well. Shandong Taishan Paper Co. Ltd has caustic soda recycling equipment with a 100-ton capacity. It also has a 30,000-ton wastewater processing workshop that can keep COD discharge to under 70mg/L.

Read the full report at Global Sources, a leading business-to-business media company and a primary facilitator of trade with China manufacturers and India suppliers, providing essential sourcing information to volume buyers through our e-magazines, trade shows and industry research.