The circular economy seduces the army | Spain
When passing through the streets of the tiny villages of Villamañán and Villacé, in León, one already knows that he is in the Emptied Spain: Closed stores, abandoned workshops, restaurants and hotels on the shores of the regional roads practically ruins … the only glimpse of life comes from three women entries in age that chat at the gates of the church and that turn their heads before the presence of any stranger. A few meters from this reality, the Asturiana Gam company, leader in the machinery sector, has just opened reviver, The largest circular economy plant in European event that has surely turned 180 degrees the fate of this area (with a little less than 100 inhabitants) and that was gradually turning off.
Two weeks ago, Gam opened the plant to a thousand people, among which were colonels and generals of the Army of Earth and Air and the space and the one that the country was invited. The Armed Forces are studying how to be more efficient, how to generate less waste and CO₂, and how to contribute to the sustainability objectives set by the United Nations 2030 Agenda. More and more actors in the defense ecosystem, from public institutions to companies, are incorporating more strict environmental criteria into their processes, products and strategies, according to organizers of Feindef, the International Defense Fair, which was held in Madrid on May 12, 13 and 14 with record assistance of more than 40,000 people. Despite this, there is still a lot of opacity in the harmful emissions of the military industry, since the sector was left decades of the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change to protect the secret of military operations. So it was decided that the report of the emissions of the CO₂ was voluntary, as recently revealed in these pages researchers and experts Fernando Valladares (CSIC), Xiomara Cantera (Museum of Natural Sciences-CSIC) and Lucía Camacho (Carlos III University of Madrid).
But Brigade General Enrique Luis Alonso, from the Great Logistics Base that the Army is raising in Córdoba (Blet) and is expected to enter into operation in 2027, of the sustainability of sustainability. In fact, Córdoba is expected to work with photovoltaic plates. Some military bases in the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway, for example, are already self -sufficient energy, and Spain does not want to be left behind.
With the Injection from millions to the industry and the defense sector« Now you have to do things well, » the general continues after the visit to the circular economy plant, where he has seen very interesting things in which the army could participate, or copy, in the not too distant future. « In a complex international environment, sustainability is emerging as a new innovation vector, » says Feindef’s organizers, where GAM was present, since he hired the Armed Forces providing them with trucks and other auxiliary vehicles.
In Reviver the Army sees how all types of motor vehicles can be given a second life: from auxiliaries, trucks and SUVs, to combat cars and tanks. Although the pilot projects – like the one that already has Repsol with the army of earth to change its fossil fuel to biofuel – are focusing only on the most basic: lighter vehicles. The Navy, through Navantia, is also studying the use of synthetic fuels in the shipyards and in the fleet. Airbus works in more efficient military aircraft and with lower consumption for the Air and Space Army.
GAM is a historical socio of the Armed Forces: it provides them with trucks, the typical vehicle that moves and elevates heavy merchandise, and a small part of its total turnover (304 million euros last year) comes from the defense sector. « We are in conversations so that the armies and the Navy bring here especially auxiliary machinery, motor vehicles … », explains in the Leonese plant the president of the company, Pedro Luis Fernández. Despite what Now there is a lot of money, The armed forces do not yet have the ability to produce in series in an efficient way, especially in time. So an agreement with Gam so that their old vehicles enter Reviver and leave as new, is a “very interesting” project for both parties.
« There is a lot of material stopped, in quotes, which can be used » if it enters Reviver and is properly conditioned, Fernández argues, which has invested 25 million in a project that is based on the past, « the old facilities of a ceramic factory that ceased its activity in 2016 for the crisis in the sector – to make a future.
In the middle of a moor surrounded by a lake of 13,500 square meters and a repopulation of poplars of an area of 40,000 square meters, between meadows to burst of red tulips, this plant that occupies more surface than the people of Villace itself fixes, solves and seeks a new life to what is spoiled. It is about reuse, not to recycle; to be aes, not to recondition; And to give a second life to a certain product, not to extend the one, explains the company. That is, if a truck or a vehicle enters in poor condition, or old, from here the same truck or the same vehicle will come out, but modern and fulfill all the security guarantees.
« Here there is innovation, future and commitment to the territory. The rural environment is alive, » presumes José Marcos Fernández Suárez, mayor of Villamañán. This project has managed to use more than 700 people in the area directly and indirectly, 20% with special capacities. « This plant represents a change because you can create value and sustenance for many families. This is sustainability with capital letters, » adds César Alonso, representative of Gam’s financial partners, DLL.
Sustainability commitments
It is precisely that sustainability, « realizing is self -managed with photovoltaic energy, for example, and each employee has an electric motorcycle to move – the one looking for General Ruiz Alonso and other colleagues who in mid -May traveled to León to soak up ideas and move them to the Armed Forces sector. « It is not about manufacturing to manufacture, but to extend the useful life, repair, reducing emissions and waste, » explains the Government delegate in Castilla y León, Nicanor Jorge Sen Vélez, who repeats that the Executive’s commitment to this way of making industry in Spain, especially in emptied Spain, is total.
And it is seen in the planning of the Ministry of Defensewhich incorporates environmental objectives with initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint of the armed forces. In addition, NATO has also published guidelines to move towards the energy transition in the military. And in many public defense tenders, suppliers to account for sustainability are obliged.
