Bahia to Adopt Paraná’s Zero Waste Program Model
Saturday, October 13th, 2007I’ve mentioned here several times the innovative Zero Waste Program (Programa Desperdício Zero) of the southern Brazilian state Paraná, such as how it applies to glass recycling, pesticide packaging, aseptic packaging and finding new ways to reuse/recycle plastic (PET) bottles (such as building solar water heaters). At some point I should do a comprehensive post […]
Amazonas “Visionary” on Climate Change?
Friday, September 7th, 2007In June Amazonas became the first Brazilian state to adopt a state law on climate change, together with one creating a State System of Conservation Units (UCs). The laws were widely praised by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working on environment and conservation issues. A Greenpeace spokesman even declared them to be “almost visionary, but perfectly capable […]
Trash Photos XII: ¡Viva la Botella!
Monday, July 23rd, 2007“¡Viva la Botella!” was the title of a brief e-mail reply sent to me recently by Andreas Froese, the man behind the construction projects utilizing used PET bottles and tire rims in Honduras I profiled some months ago, and author of the companion guest post (in Spanish) to that profile”Como tener éxito trabajando con ‘basura’ […]
PAC’ing Brazil: Overview & Environmental Licensing
Friday, March 2nd, 2007If you are not resident in Brazil or a regular Brazil-watcher, you could be forgiven for never having heard of PAC. No! Not the video game character that chomped on “power pills” in order to consume brightly colored ghosts! Rather instead complex package of proposals from Lula’s Government intended to energize the Brazilian economy through […]
“Ecological Bricks”
Sunday, December 24th, 2006It’s been interesting to see how much the articles on the Brazilian and Honduran buildings made using PET bottles have captured the imagination of so many readers. Since then I have been alerted to several other examples of recycled trash being used as building materials. Most of these concern what people call “ecological bricks” (ladrillos […]
More Construction with PET Bottles
Tuesday, November 21st, 2006In a prior entry I introduced you to Brazilian experiments with constructing homes using PET bottles. Today I’ll introduce you to Andreas Froese, a man who not only did it first in Honduras, but has gone much beyond the experimental stages to actually build over a dozen homes and community centers made of PET bottles, […]