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Loading ...Uruguay Closer to Plastic Bag Law
Saturday, September 19th, 2009This week Uruguay came one step closer to restricting the use of plastic carry bags in the nation’s retail establishments. On the 17th the Chamber of Deputies approved a law that would require all supermarkets, hypermarkets, shopping centers, markets and stores in general to only use carry bags for their merchandise that is either degradable, […]
Eye on Ads: Latin American Idol Urges Paper, Tetra-Pak Recycling
Friday, June 19th, 2009An interesting ad from Panama, featuring Margarita Henriquez Vuela, the 2008 Latin American Idol winner (this is the Latin American version of the hit US television contest, American Idol) from Panama. Paper packaging manufacturers and Tetra-Pak, the lead manufacturer of aseptic packaging, are pushing a recycling campaign with Margarita as one of their spokespersons.
IFC Supports PET Recycling in Mexico / IFC respalda el reciclaje de PET en México
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009From the International Finance Corporation (IFC): IFC Supports PetStar’s Launch of Recycling Facility to Reduce Waste in Mexico IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, supported the launch of operations for Petstar SA de CV’s bottle–to-bottle recycling facility, which is expected to significantly reduce the volume of non-biodegradable waste and contribute to greater longevity […]
Brazil Raises Steel Can Recycling to 49%
Thursday, March 19th, 2009From the World Steel Association: Global steel can recycling rate reaches highest recorded level The World Steel Association (worldsteel) announced today that 7.2 million metric tons (mmt) of steel cans were recycled across the 37 countries reporting in 2007. This avoided approximately 13 mmt of CO2 emissions. The global recycling rate for steel cans was […]
Wal-Mart to Reduce Phosphates in Detergents, Promote Sustainable Packaging in Americas / Compromiso de Wal-Mart reducir fosfatos en detergente, promover envase más sustentables en las Américas
Monday, January 26th, 2009From Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart Americas Aims to Reduce Detergent Phosphates 70% Company makes commitment to more sustainable packaging in the region Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. committed today to reduce phosphates in laundry and dish detergents in the Americas region by 70 percent by 2011. Wal-Mart also announced plans to accelerate its drive toward more sustainable packaging in […]
Colombia’s New Hazardous Waste Law
Saturday, January 17th, 2009At the end of 2008 Colombia adopted a new Law on Prohibitive Environmental Norms Regarding Hazardous Waste and Discards. The new law is intended to close loopholes in prior law regarding hazardous waste imports, to toughen sanctions and enforcement, and to clarify liability for hazardous wastes from cradle-to-grave. That it does, mostly. But it repeats […]
Wal-Mart’s Plastic Bag Reduction Strategy in Central America
Thursday, January 15th, 2009Wal-Mart Central America is pursuing an interesting strategy to achieve its announced target of a 50% reduction in plastic bag use in its more than 500 stores in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua by 2013. Whereas its brethren in Brazil have elected to offer discounts for consumers bringing their own alternatives to […]
Some Eye-Opening Graphics on GHG Emissions & Carbon Credits
Sunday, January 4th, 2009There’s a wonderful resource for graphics related to environmental issues run by the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) GRID-Arendal center in Norway. I started browsing it regularly for their maps, but have found their graphical depictions of tough issues to be quite useful. Recently I came across several regarding climate change that I thought I’d share […]
Recycling Used Motor Oil Packaging in Brazil
Thursday, December 25th, 2008In past posts I’ve discussed how recovery of used motor oil is still in its early stages in Latin American nations such as Brazil and Colombia. But that’s only part of the waste problem generated by the lubricants we use in motor vehicles. There’s also the packaging that the new motor oil comes in, the […]
A Cempre for Colombia
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008When I started research on the first edition of my book on waste and recycling policy in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) back in 1997, one of the first places I turned for information was Brazil’s Business Commitment to Recycling (Compromisso Empresarial para Reciclagem – Cempre). It was still located in Rio de Janeiro […]