Trash Photos XIX: A Visit to Minas’ Center on Waste
Thursday, June 25th, 2009Yesterday I visited an institution in Belo Horizonte (BH) that, to my knowledge, is unique in Brazil, if not the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The Minas Waste Reference Center (Centro Mineiro de Referência em Resíduos – CMRR) opened in 2007 with the mission to serve as the focal point in the […]
Oaxaca Gets a Comprehensive Waste Law
Friday, June 5th, 2009The legislature of the Mexican state of Oaxaca (OX) just sent the governor a gift for World Environment Day: a comprehensive state solid waste law. Since Mexico adopted its federal General Law for the Prevention and Integrated Management of Wastes in 2003, the Federal District (DF) and many states have adopted their own general waste […]
Minas’ New State Waste Law Features Take-Back
Sunday, January 18th, 2009Last week the governor of Minas Gerais (MG) signed the State Solid Waste Policy Law. The Law’s 57 articles establish the principles, guidelines, goals and instruments for the correct management of waste, and defines the obligations of different waste generators and the users of urban sanitation services. Minas is not the first Brazilian state to […]
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 […]
Giving LAC’s First Plastic Packaging Law Teeth
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007An interesting thing happened over the last two weeks. Well, interesting to people like me who’ve been following the packaging waste debate for decades, at least. Environment enforcement officials for Rio de Janeiro (RJ) state “blitzed” supermarkets in Rio de Janeiro city — first on 19 October in the well-to-do Leblon section, then on 23 […]