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    Trash Photos XIX: A Visit to Minas’ Center on Waste

    Thursday, June 25th, 2009

    Yesterday 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 […]

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    Brazil to Invest R$220 mil. in Recycling / Brasil vai investir R$220 milhões em reciclagem

    Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

    At 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 […]

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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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    Brazil to Release GHG Inventory for Waste & Sanitation Sectors / Brasil vai divulgar dados sobre a emissão de gases de efeito estufa do setor de resíduos sólidos e efluentes

    Monday, December 29th, 2008

    While many developing nations — including most Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations — are content to submit the minimum communication required under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Brazil has not taken the easy route.  If you check the Temas listing of national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories,  you’ll see that no less […]

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    Rio’s Commitment to Tackle Sewage and Trash

    Friday, December 26th, 2008

    It’s a bit of an open secret that the state of Rio de Janeiro, beautiful as it is, has a serious trash problem.  Litter is ubiquitous.  Trash (particularly drink containers) choke many waterways and drainage systems.  While the state has a reasonably good record in providing waste pick-up services to its residents, disposal has been […]

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    A Green Report Card for São Paulo’s Cities

    Thursday, November 27th, 2008

    Yesterday 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 […]

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    More Glass Packaging Recovery, Less Piracy?

    Sunday, October 7th, 2007

    When discussing recovery/recycling among packaging materials in Brazil, glass sometimes suffers by comparison. Brazil is a world leader in recycling PET and aluminum cans, and high among recyclers of corrugated cardboard (77%). Brazil’s 45% annual recycling rate for glass packaging is better than the glass packaging rate for the US (but then again, the US […]

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    O futuro é hoje!

    Thursday, September 27th, 2007

    It is a pleasure to welcome a second guest post by Brazilian Federal Deputy Arnaldo Jardim — for a full introduction please see his "Cidadania Ambiental."  As I mentioned in that post, for those of you who cannot read Portuguese, you can always use the handy translation button in the righthand column of this blog. […]

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    It’s Clean Up the World Weekend — Get Involved!

    Friday, September 14th, 2007

    This weekend across the world, including much of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), people will be joining NGOs and community groups in events designed to clean up beaches, coastal waters, rivers, lakes, parks, reserves and their surroundings as part of the annual Clean Up the World Weekend. Copied below is the official press release […]

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    Sao Paulo’s Green Cities Program Launched / Lançamento do Projeto Município Verde de São Paulo

    Saturday, July 21st, 2007

    Synopsis in English: São Paulo State’s governor, José Serra, and Environment Secretary, Xico Graziano, recently announced the formal launch of the “Green City” project promised as part of the Governor’s package of 21 strategic environmental measures. By early July, 393 of SP’s 645 cities had already signed onto the program’s protocol of 10 commitments, covering […]

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