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 […]
Minas Trumpets Its Waste Policy Achievements
Saturday, December 27th, 2008Minas Gerais, Brazil’s second most populous state and one of its mining, metals and agriculture powerhouses, is pretty proud of its recent accomplishments in waste policy and management. I’ve chronicled here a couple of their steps, such as the modernized inspection/enforcement regime and the creation of the Waste Reference Center (CMRR). But that only touches […]
Minas Seeks Packaging Waste Dialogue with Tetra-Pak
Friday, September 28th, 2007Paraná forced a deal on Tetra Pak regarding waste from its long-life packaging (aseptic) packaging; now Minas Gerais (MG) wants a dialog about the same issue. If I were Tetra Pak executives, I’d start being concerned about the direction the drink packaging waste issue is taking in Brazil (if they aren’t already). As I mentioned […]
Minas’ New Focal Point for Waste Matters
Thursday, September 27th, 2007In June the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais opened an institution 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) is intended to be the state's focal point for everything and anything […]
Recovery of the Forests of the Rio Doce Basin
Saturday, September 15th, 2007Synopsis in English: The government of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (MG), represented by the Environment Secretary (SEMAD) and the Director-General of the State Forestry Institute (IEF), signed a 3-year agreement (with option to renew) with a nonoprofit that works to preserve and recover the Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica), the Earth Institute (Instituto Terra), […]
Digitizing Environmental Enforcement
Saturday, August 4th, 2007Minas Gerais is moving to accomplish something no other Brazilian state — or probably any Latin American/ Caribbean (LAC) nation, for that matter — has yet done: digitize its environmental inspection and enforcement. Currently Minas is winding up a pilot project in which its 21 waste and sanitation inspectors do much of their work utilizing […]