Trash Photos XIX: A Visit to Minas’ Center on Waste
Thursday, June 25th, 2009Yesterday I visited an institution in Belo Horizonte (BH) that, to my knowledge, is unique in Brazil, if not the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The Minas Waste Reference Center (Centro Mineiro de Referência em Resíduos – CMRR) opened in 2007 with the mission to serve as the focal point in the […]
Trash Photos XVII: Color-Coded Selective Collection
Monday, June 15th, 2009Today I interviewed someone in the University of São Paulo’s (USP) Public Health Faculty (FSP) (the lead author in a study about catadores, as a matter of fact) and I spotted this in the mini-park in front of the building. These days it’s not hard to find color-coded collection bins in Brazil, particularly in the […]
São Paulo Offers Packaging Bill for Public Comment
Friday, May 22nd, 2009The Environment Secretariat (SMA) of São Paulo (SP) today published for public comment on its website a draft bill for a law on post-consumer packaging. The bill would create a rather complex shared responsibility system to ensure that post-consumer packaging in SP is either recycled or reused. Anyone wishing to submit comments or suggested changes to the […]
Rio Gets Supermarkets to Become Recycling Centers
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009The President of Rio de Janeiro’s State Environment Institute (INEA) just signed a “letter of intent” with the Association of Supermarkets of Rio de Janeiro State (ASSERJ) and the Federation of Cooperatives of Recyclable Material Collectors (Febracom) to install selective collection centers in all the state’s supermarkets. The centers will allow consumers to return plastic […]
Paraná Looks at Generating Employment from Waste
Thursday, March 19th, 2009I wish all states did this. The Environment Secretariat (SEMA) of the southern Brazilian state of Paraná met on Tuesday and Wednesday (17-18 March) with the environment authorities of 70 municipalities in the North and North Pioneer regions of the state, and today and tomorrow will meet with municipal officials from the rest of the […]
Brazil to Invest R$220 mil. in Recycling / Brasil vai investir R$220 milhões em reciclagem
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009At a meeting for new mayors held this morning in Brasilia, representatives of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Socioeconomic Inclusion for Catadores (catadores is what waste pickers are known as in Brazil) that federal government investments in various recycling, selective collection and municipal waste management training projects will exceed R$ 220 million in 2009 (about US$95.6 […]
Minas’ New State Waste Law Features Take-Back
Sunday, January 18th, 2009Last week the governor of Minas Gerais (MG) signed the State Solid Waste Policy Law. The Law’s 57 articles establish the principles, guidelines, goals and instruments for the correct management of waste, and defines the obligations of different waste generators and the users of urban sanitation services. Minas is not the first Brazilian state to […]
Minas Trumpets Its Waste Policy Achievements
Saturday, December 27th, 2008Minas Gerais, Brazil’s second most populous state and one of its mining, metals and agriculture powerhouses, is pretty proud of its recent accomplishments in waste policy and management. I’ve chronicled here a couple of their steps, such as the modernized inspection/enforcement regime and the creation of the Waste Reference Center (CMRR). But that only touches […]
A Green Report Card for São Paulo’s Cities
Thursday, November 27th, 2008Yesterday São Paulo state (SP) Secretary for the Environment, Xico Graziano, revealed the environmental rankings of the state’s municipalities and rewarded the mayors of cities with the highest grades. This quasi “green report card” and honor roll is a fruit of the state’s “Green Municipality” (Município Verde) Program, one of the governor’s “21 strategic environmental […]
Colombia Gets Producer Responsibility Agreement for End-of-Life Lighting
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008Colombia’s Environment Ministry (MAVDT) has signed a convenant with nine of the most important lamp manufacturers and importers — Osram, Philips, GE, Havells Sylvania Colombia, Carrefour, Greenlight, Mecanelectro, Sodimac Colombia — to take charge of electrical and electronic lighting at the end of their product life. The companies agree to: Advance efforts to design and […]
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