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Recyclables for Electricity Program Catches On
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008When the 10 winners for 2008 of the biennial World Business and Development Awards were announced a few weeks back, the Spanish energy conglomerate Endesa was one of the recipients for a program its subsidiaries run in two Brazilian states. The program helps people pay for their power bills while promoting recycling. While an interesting [...]
Brasil vai elaborar cenário nacional de emissões de gases de efeito estufa em 2030 / Brazil to Prepare National Scenario for Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2030
Thursday, November 6th, 2008Synopsis in English: The World Bank is funding the preparation of a national scenario for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for Brazil for the year 2030, which Brazil hopes to have ready to forward in 2009 to the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Brazilian team includes the Science and Technology [...]
Not Always Easy Buying Recycled
Monday, October 6th, 2008The basic idea was straightforward: stimulate recycling by requiring all state agencies, entities and offices to buy only paper products with high recycled content (50%).
That was the requirement set by a new law adopted by the southern Brazilian state of Paraná in November 2007. The Law said that it must apply to all paper products [...]
Paraná Takes Aim on New Beer Packaging
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008First aseptic cartons, then long-necked beer bottles, now one-liter glass beer bottles. Hmmm, do you think maybe Paraná environment officials are focused on packaging waste issues?
Earlier this month Paraná’s Environment Secretary, Rasca Rodrigues, again used the press to get a company to the negotiating table. He publicly attacked the new one-liter beer bottle — dubbed [...]
Brazil Adopts New Battery Rules
Friday, September 12th, 2008Brazil’s National Environment Council (CONAMA) just replaced the country’s groundbreaking 1999 rules on the environmental management of batteries and piles (pilhas) with even tougher ones.
Manufacturers should take note, since legislators and regulators in other Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations will. The original rules served as a reference point for many LAC policymakers, particularly since [...]
From Banners to Reusable Shopping Bags
Saturday, September 6th, 2008Synopsis in English: The more I find out about the work of Paraná’s Zero Waste (Desperdício Zero) Program — particularly its creativity in finding new and different ways to promote and spark interest in recycling — the more I like and admire their work.
Remember the solar water heater made of used PET bottles and [...]
The Green Protocol
Saturday, September 6th, 2008A few weeks ago a press release from Brazil’s National Development Bank (BNDES) came across my desk trumpeting its signing with the Environment Minister of an agreement on supporting sustainable development dubbed “The Green Protocol.” I confess that I didn’t even scan it properly. Instead I filed it away to examine later, guessing (wrongly) that [...]
Rio Bans Pigmented PET Packaging
Thursday, August 28th, 2008Last month something a bit astonishing happened quietly in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. The state Governor, Sérgio Cabral, signed into law a very short bill. The new Law outlaws the manufacture or sale in the state of pigmented PET packaging.
The rationale? Such packaging is not accepted for recycling by either waste-pickers (catadores) [...]
Update: Among the World’s Top PET Recyclers
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008Who was #2 in PET recycling in 2006 (the last year for which there are comparable figures among nations)?
Did you answer Brazil?
In 2006 Brazil recycled 180 kilotons (Kt), representing about 51.3% of the PET sold in the country during that year. This means that Brazil recycles at double the rate that the US does, and [...]
7-Time World Champion Recycler of Aluminum Cans
Monday, August 25th, 2008The title refers to Brazil, of course. The Brazilian Association of Manufacturers of Highly Recyclable Cans (Abralatas) — what the Brazilian Association of Aluminum Can Manufacturers now calls itself — and the Brazilian Aluminum Association (ABAL) have just released their final, official recycling statistics for 2007. For the seventh year in a row, [...]
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