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Loading ...Brazil a Leader in Green IT?
Sunday, April 12th, 2009I ran across this interesting “green IT” study released last month by IBM and the Info-Tech Research Group during the course of my work on a chapter on power management issues for a forthcoming book on green IT (information technology). Info-tech surveyed more than 1,000 IT executives at companies with 100-1,000 employees in 12 nations […]
Brazilian Banks Assume Environmental Commitment
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009Brazilian businesses depending on bank financing for their economic activities will have to prove from now on that they are committed to developing socio-environmental policies, such as those regarding respect for human and workers’ rights, conservation of biodiversity, valuing the diversity of local cultures, reduction of poverty and income distribution inequality. This is the intended […]
BNDES-Supported Waste Picker Cooperatives Have Better Standard of Living
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009From the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES): Survey reveals better standard of living of waste pickers supported by the BNDES The BNDES conducted a survey with recycling waste pickers associated to cooperatives supported by the Bank. The survey detected considerable improvements in the standard of living of these workers and their families. The questionnaire was answered […]
Brazil Raises Steel Can Recycling to 49%
Thursday, March 19th, 2009From the World Steel Association: Global steel can recycling rate reaches highest recorded level The World Steel Association (worldsteel) announced today that 7.2 million metric tons (mmt) of steel cans were recycled across the 37 countries reporting in 2007. This avoided approximately 13 mmt of CO2 emissions. The global recycling rate for steel cans was […]
Swiss to Help Minas Prepare E-waste Diagnosis
Monday, March 9th, 2009The government of Brazil’s Minas Gerais state wants to regulate waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE, or “e-waste” or “e-scrap”), and with their new state waste policy law, they have ample authority to do so. There’s just one problem: they are not sure of the full extent and nature of the e-waste problem in their […]
Parana to Tetra-Pak: Fulfill Your Commitments
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009Just seven months ago Paraná’s Environment Secretary, Rasca Rodrigues, was singing the praises of aseptic packaging producer Tetra Pak for its implementation of a deal negotiated in 2007 concerning the firm’s responsibility for the waste problem in the state related to its packaging. Now he’s charging them with failing to live up to their commitments. […]
Rio to Require Take-Back of Fluorescent Lamps
Thursday, February 26th, 2009The Environment Minister for Rio de Janeiro (RJ) State, Marilene Ramos, has sent to governor Sérgio Cabral for his signature a draft decree to implement a 2007 law requiring the take-back of end-of-life fluorescent lamps. The law required manufacturers, importers, distributors, resellers and vendors of fluorescent lamps to provide consumers with containers for the collection […]
Supreme Court: Producers Decide Which Third-Party Organizations Will Handle Their Waste Obligations
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009Brazil’s Superior Court just issued an important ruling regarding producer responsibility. The case involved a challenge to the exclusive right of a third party organization to control the implementation of a producer responsibility waste recovery obligation imposed under Brazilian environmental legislation. The firm Santos e Paccini Ltda. – Fineplast contested a denial of an environmental […]
Brazil to Invest R$220 mil. in Recycling / Brasil vai investir R$220 milhões em reciclagem
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009At a meeting for new mayors held this morning in Brasilia, representatives of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Socioeconomic Inclusion for Catadores (catadores is what waste pickers are known as in Brazil) that federal government investments in various recycling, selective collection and municipal waste management training projects will exceed R$ 220 million in 2009 (about US$95.6 […]
HP Opens First Printer Cartridge Recycling Facility in Latin America
Monday, February 9th, 2009HP has just raised the stakes in producer responsibility for printer cartridge manufacturers operating in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). HP and Lexmark already were ahead of other manufacturers in offering cartridge recovery programs in the region. HP has now gone one step further — it just opened Latin America’s first printer recycling center […]