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Eye on Ads: Promoting Handwashing
Thursday, April 30th, 2009It’s a relatively simple thing that it’s too often overlooked by local sanitary authorities and technical assistance programs, but soooooo important in improving public health and hygiene: getting everyone in the habit of regularly (and properly) washing their hands with soap.
Below are two public service ads (PSAs) sponsored by Colombia’s Environment Ministry (MAVDT), originally released [...]
Colombia Imposes Take-Back for Expired Medicines
Monday, March 2nd, 2009Two years ago Environment Minister got the attention of industry when he published for public comment two draft decrees imposing extended producer responsibility (EPR) for end-of-life batteries and medicines.
Now, after nearly two years of discussions between the Environment Ministry (MAVDT) and industry groups representing the pharmaceutical sector in Colombia — namely the Colombian Pharmaceutical Industry [...]
Colombia: Mining, Yes, But Not in National Parks
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009“Mining in Colombia, yes, but not in national parks,” insists Colombia’s Environment Minister Juan Lozano Ramírez. “Mining in Colombia, yes, but environmentally responsible. Mining in Colombia, yes, but not that they rob everything of value and leave us with deserts and zones of erosion.”
He announced a total prohibition on all granting of mining [...]
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 an [...]
Colombia Offers 2 Draft Rules on Detergents for Public Comment
Monday, January 12th, 2009Colombia’s Environment Ministry (MAVDT) has released for public comment two draft resolutions that, once adopted, would become binding rules on the detergent sector. The scope for both is the same: washing and cleaning products in any form (liquid, powder, paste, bar, cake, molded forms, etc.) and whether marketed for household, institutional, industrial or service [...]
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 [...]
Recovering Used Oil in Colombia
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008Recently Colombia’s Environment Minister, Juan Lozano Ramírez, lauded an industry initiative in that country to collect and environmentally manage used motor oil and lubricants known as the Used Oil Fund (Fondo de Aceites Usados - FAU). “This process is progressing successfully, ” declared Lozano, “because the trend now is, without a doubt, business strengthening that [...]
Colombia Gets Producer Responsibility Agreement for End-of-Life Lighting
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008Colombia’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 implement [...]
Colombia Sets Zero Tariffs on Electric Cars, Studies Doing Same for Other “Clean” Vehicles
Sunday, November 2nd, 2008Last month I posted about Colombia’s decision to import (and promote) the Reva electric car. Now comes word that the Triple A Committee on Customs, Tariff and Trade Affairs has approved a zero import tariff for the first 100 of the cars. Ten will be imported in December, the other 90 in the first half [...]
Electric Cars for Colombia
Monday, October 6th, 2008First Chile, now Colombia. Where next for electric cars in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)?
The American Multi-services Company (Compañía Americana de Multiservicios - CAM) — 100% owned by Enersis S.A., which in turn is a subsidiary of the Spanish energy multinational Endesa — has announced that it is bringing the REVA electric car to [...]