A New Twist to Recyclables for Electricity Programs
Monday, September 21st, 2009I’ve posted in the past about innovative Brazilian programs in the states of Ceará (CE), Mato Grosso (MT) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ) to get people to turn in recyclables in exchange for getting a reduction in their monthly electric power bill. One of the programs I liked was Consciência EcoAmpla, run by Endesa’s subsidiary [...]
Rio Adopts Law on Used Oil and Motor Oil Filters
Friday, September 18th, 2009The governor of Rio de Janeiro (RJ) state today signed a law regarding the final disposition of used lubricating oils and their filters. The new law, rather short and simple, does four things:
limits the sale of lubricating oils to those establishments equipped with “an adequate area” and “necessary specific equipment” for the collection of used [...]
Chile to Ratify the London Dumping Protocol
Friday, September 18th, 2009President Bachelet has sent the 1996 Protocol to the London Convention on Dumping to the Chilean Congress for ratification, and initial indications are that both houses view ratification favorably. If they do so, it will change Chilean law on disposing of wastes at sea and make Chile only the sixth Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) [...]
Directional Signals in Brazilian Federal Waste Policy
Monday, August 17th, 2009A body most people have never heard of, part of a larger organization many people do not know or understand, met today and took a series of decisions that will help shape new directions in waste policy in Brazil.
The larger organization many do not know and a good many do not understand is Brazil’s National [...]
$20 Mn. to Help Colombia Clean Up its Solid Waste Management / US$20 millones para apoyar a Colombia mejorar su manejo de los residuos sólidos
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009From the World Bank:
Financing to address health and environmental problems
The US$20 million for implementing the Solid Waste Management Program in Colombia will seek to improve the quality and coverage of the country’s integrated waste treatment services, benefiting close to 400,000 people thanks to the appropriate management of solid waste in landfills built by the project.
“This [...]
A Regional Waste Exchange for Central America
Monday, August 3rd, 2009For years I’ve advocated establishing and heavily promoting subregional (or in the case of huge and diverse market of Brazil, at least a national) waste exchanges as one way to promote more reuse and recycling and to minimize wastage. It certainly makes more sense than national waste exchanges, particularly in the case of a collection [...]
What the Other Guy Blogs About: Recycling in Barbados
Monday, July 27th, 2009My friends over at Barbados Free Press (BFP) have a good post, followed by an interesting discussion through comments, about litter in Barbados and why there really is no excuse for the island not to be recycling far more than it does now. I very much recommend the post.
I also would like to reproduce here [...]
Another Momentum Indicator on Used Motor Oil Packaging in Brazil?
Friday, July 24th, 2009A couple of months ago I wondered aloud if maybe a bill introduced in São Paulo’s (SP) state assembly was an early indicator of a momentum shift in the hitherto slow-building movement in Brazil to promote the collection and recycling of the packaging that the new motor oil comes in.
Now comes another curious indicator. A [...]
An E-Waste Bill for Bahia
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009I’m on vacation in the Caribbean, with limited internet access (and a damaged laptop) and in any case supposedly ignoring my inbox and not posting. But I peeked at the web version of my inbox using a relative’s laptop and, seeing a note on this, could not resist a quick post.
It shows something I have [...]
From Used Balloons and Gloves to New Rubber Products
Sunday, July 5th, 2009Researchers from the Forest Products Laboratory (LPF) of Brazil’s Forestry Service (SFB) have demonstrated that they can recycle used latex gloves and party balloons by combining them with sawdust, in the process turning them into floor tiles, shoe soles, floor mats and other rubber artifacts.
The cost of producing a floor sheet from these wastes is [...]





















