Morelos Gets a Comprehensive Waste Law
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007The central Mexican state of Morelos (home of Revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata) just adopted its own comprehensive state solid waste law. Since Mexico adopted its federal General Law for the Prevention and Integrated Management of Wastes in 2003, the Federal District (DF) and many states have adopted their own general waste laws, or else amended […]
Are Biodegradable Plastic Bags Really Better?
Saturday, September 22nd, 2007In my rant last June about unnecessary plastic wrap being praised by Chile’s Environment Minister simply because it is “biodegradable,” I promised a guest post from an expert who can explain better than I can the debate over whether “biodegradable” plastic bags are really a substantial improvement over conventional plastic bags. I’m happy to publish […]
Investing in Composting
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007A few weeks back Rio de Janeiro (RJ) state’s agency in charge of environmental licensing, the State Environmental Engineering Foundation (FEEMA), announced the first-ever environmental license granted in that state to a privately-owned commercial composting plant. The licensed was granted to VideVerde, a subsidiary of the Venativ environmental services group, for a station in Resende, […]
Digitizing Environmental Enforcement
Saturday, August 4th, 2007Minas Gerais is moving to accomplish something no other Brazilian state — or probably any Latin American/ Caribbean (LAC) nation, for that matter — has yet done: digitize its environmental inspection and enforcement. Currently Minas is winding up a pilot project in which its 21 waste and sanitation inspectors do much of their work utilizing […]
Mexico: Feds Issue Guidance on Municipal Composting
Monday, March 12th, 2007Recently Mexico’s Environment Secretariat (SEMARNAT) announced with great fanfare the release of a “manual” on municipal composting. This “manual” actually was co-produced last autumn by SEMARNAT’s National Ecology Institute (INE) and the German technical cooperation agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH. What was interesting was not so much the so-called manual itself, which […]
Jalisco Gets a Waste Law
Monday, February 26th, 2007The Mexican state of Jalisco (JL) just published in its official gazette the text of its recently passed Law on the Integrated Management of Wastes. Jalisco joins the Federal District (DF) and the states of Colima, Guanajuato, Querétaro and Veracruz in adopting its own waste law to supplement the federal Law for the Prevention and […]