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    Ceará Adopts Lamp and Battery Take-Back Law

    Friday, June 19th, 2009

    Yesterday the governor of the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceará (CE) signed a law that would require the take-back of fluorescent lamps, batteries and piles. The very brief and simple law requires vendors of such products in the state to provide collection bins on their premises for consumers to drop off those at the end […]

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    A Unique Environmental Institution

    Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

    Right now, until 05 February, environmental groups across Brazil are electing their representatives on the National Environment Council (Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente – CONAMA). The more than 500 environment nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the Environment Ministry’s (MMA) National Registry of Environmental Entities (Cadastro Nacional de Entidades Ambientalistas – CNEA) are voting for which individuals […]

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    Minas’ New State Waste Law Features Take-Back

    Sunday, January 18th, 2009

    Last 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 […]

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    Minas Trumpets Its Waste Policy Achievements

    Saturday, December 27th, 2008

    Minas 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 […]

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    Colombia Gets Producer Responsibility Agreement for End-of-Life Lighting

    Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

    Colombia’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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    An E-Waste/RoHS Bill For Uruguay

    Monday, September 29th, 2008

    Earlier this month a bill was introduced in the Uruguayan legislature to “create a management system for waste from electrical and electronic apparatuses.”  Uruguay, it seems, is joining Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica among the Latin American nations finally moving to tackle the WEEE issue. The bill is relatively short (2 pages) and simple, […]

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    Minas & São Paulo Adopt a Green Purchasing Program

    Sunday, September 28th, 2008

    Two of Brazil’s biggest markets — the states of Minas Gerais (MG) and São Paulo (SP) — each created in August a state program for sustainable public purchasing and contracting that, if done properly, can have a major impact on Brazilian markets — even more so if other states and the federal government follow their […]

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    If You Can’t Find It Here, You May Not Find It

    Friday, February 1st, 2008

    Quite a few Temas Blog readers noticed the absence of new posts for several weeks. I was fully occupied with work day-and-night on the final stages of the total revamp and re-launch of my main site, temasactuales.com Although work continues on the Spanish and Portuguese versions (coming soon!), the burden has lightened enough that I […]

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    Bahia to Adopt Paraná’s Zero Waste Program Model

    Saturday, October 13th, 2007

    I’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 […]

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    Rioluz Saves R$4 mil./yr by Reuse/Recycling

    Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

    Rioluz, the company linked to Rio de Janeiro’s municipal administration that is responsible for the some 390,000 public lights in the city, tries to reuse/recycle everything. It claims that in the process it saves the city about R$4 million (around US$2.14 million at current exchange rates) every year. The reuse/recycling referred to here is the […]

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