An E-Waste Bill for Bahia
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009I’m on vacation in the Caribbean, with limited internet access (and a damaged laptop) and in any case supposedly ignoring my inbox and not posting. But I peeked at the web version of my inbox using a relative’s laptop and, seeing a note on this, could not resist a quick post.
It shows something I have [...]
Recycling Ozone-Depleting Substances
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009This week the Regeneration and Recycling Center of the Northeast (Centro de Regeneração e Reciclagem do Nordeste – CRN) will be inaugurated in the capital of Pernambuco state, Recife. The principal purpose of the CRN is to collect, purify and recycle chlorofluorocarbon 12 (CFC-12), primarily taken from old refrigerators. The Center can also regenerate other [...]
Brazil Invests in International Research Cooperation on Second Generation Biofuels
Friday, May 29th, 2009Brazil will invest R$11.6 million (about US$ million at current exchange rates) in international research cooperation regarding second-generation biofuels with the 27 member states and the many associate states of the European Union (EU). A request for proposals from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) calls for projects that develop new production [...]
An E-Waste Bill for Pernambuco
Friday, May 22nd, 2009The northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco may go the way of its southern sister state, Paraná, regarding computer-related waste. A bill was just introduced in Pernambuco’s state assembly that appears patterned after Paraná’s Law adopted last year.
It would require producers, distributors and vendors of “informatic equipment” to create and maintain programs for their recovery, [...]
Pesticide Residue Levels in Brazilian Food
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009Which fresh food sold in Brazil has been found most likely to present “irregular” pesticide residues — levels higher than those permitted by regulation, or even residues of pesticides banned or not authorized for use on the foodstuff it is found on?
Peppers. In 2008 more than 64% of the pepper samples analyzed by the National [...]
Brazil Increases Pesticide Packaging Take-Back
Saturday, March 28th, 2009I’ve posted before on The Temas Blog (here, here and here) about Brazil’s amazingly successful program at recovering used pesticide packaging, which is achieving recovery rates higher than in many OECD nations.
Well folks, Brazil continues to improve on this front: the National Institute for Processing Empty Packaging (inpEV), the industry-appointed group solely in charge of [...]
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, 2008While 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 [...]
Brazilian States Publicize Consumer Complaints
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008In September the 21 Brazilian state consumer agencies (known in Brazil as “Procons”) belonging to the National System of Consumer Defense Information (Sistema Nacional de Informações de Defesa do Consumidor – SINDEC) opened (mostly on the internet) their registries of consumer complaints, including their rankings of which firms were the subject of the greatest number [...]
Turning Manioc Production Wastewater into New Products
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008The young Brazilian men pictured at right, Leandro Aguiar and Alexsandro Pereira, remind me strongly of a trio of Córdoba, Argentine students I wrote about early on this blog for a reason: they looked at a local waste problem and figured out a way not only to reduce or eliminate the waste, but turn it [...]
Promoting Tourism in Brazil’s National Parks
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008Synopsis in English: Environment Minister Carlos Minc recently announced a package of R$50 million to stimulate ecotourism in six federal conservation units (unidades de conservação federais – UCFs) with a view to investing in infrastructure (primarily visitor centers, belvederes and guided trails) and contracting concessions for visitors services (restaurants, guides, etc.). Adventure tourism will also [...]
« Previous Entries



















