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    Government Study Calls for Mexican Battery Regulation / Estudio recomenda normatividad sobre las pilas en México

    Friday, March 13th, 2009

    Mexico’s National Ecology Institute (INE) has just released an “environmental diagnosis” of portable batteries in that country. The study looks at the growth of battery consumption in Mexico, a recent analysis of the chemical composition of both formal and informal (“pirate”) batteries (looking particularly at heavy metal content and any other aspects that may make […]

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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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    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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    The Disease Burden Associated with Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

    Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

    Last month the World Health Organization (WHO) released, without much fanfare, Safer Water, Better Health, its estimate of how many deaths or how much “disease burden” can be attributed to deficiencies in water, sanitation and hygiene (WSH). Access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation is key to improving health conditions in developing countries. Water-related […]

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    Postscript on the Battery Recycling Controversy in Paraná

    Sunday, September 30th, 2007

    Remember the local opposition to a car battery “recycling” (mining) operation in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná last March that eventually led to state environment officials in May to suspend the company’s environmental license and initiating a full review of all state  environmental, health and safety policies regarding enterprises handling lead and its compounds? […]

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    Mexican Teens Win Stockholm Water Prize

    Wednesday, August 15th, 2007

    It’s World Water Week, and this year’s winners of the Stockholm Water Foundation’s annual Junior Water Prize have just been announced: a group of teens from Mexico with an ingenious, low-cost solution for removing lead from water. That’s them in the picture at right receiving the award from Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria. They also received […]

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    Assessing Children’s Vulnerability to Chemical Exposures

    Saturday, July 28th, 2007

    The report discussed in the press release below is actually from the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), for which the World Health Organization (WHO) serves as secretariat, but is also cosponsored by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and UN Environment Programme (UNEP). It represents an emerging international (not just North American or European) consensus […]

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    Another Historic Court Judgment Against Officials Not Doing Their Job

    Saturday, June 2nd, 2007

    Yesterday (31 May), it seems, was a banner day for court judgments taking LAC executive branch officials to task for not doing their job in enforcing environment laws. First the Brazilian case finding that federal environment officials must share in the environmental damage reparation costs and compensation for coal mining pollution they did not address […]

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    The Metals Industry Stance on Recycling and Recycled Content

    Wednesday, March 28th, 2007

    At the end of November a coalition of entities representing major segments of the mining and metals industries* issued a joint “Declaration on Recycling Principles.” As you may have discerned by now, everything having to do with waste and recycling interests me. I downloaded the Declaration, jotted notes and questions in a draft post, and […]

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    An Interesting Twist to the Battery Recycling Story

    Tuesday, March 27th, 2007

    A few days ago I posted about a controversy in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná involving community opposition to the environmental licensing of a battery recycling facility just outside town. I concluded by saying: Looking on the bright side, the mere fact that you can view a news report such as this one says […]

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