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 […]
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, Brazil leads […]
Software to Calculate Gains from Recycling / Software para calcular los beneficios de reciclar
Thursday, September 20th, 2007Municipalities have been known to spend thousands of dollars to consultants to provide them with an assessment of the economic and environmental viability of creating and implementing a municipal recycling program. Now several Brazilian professors have created a software package that they claim will do all that with just a few clicks of a computer […]
Aluminum Recycling Reconsidered
Wednesday, August 29th, 2007A Sixth Year as Aluminum Can Recycling Champion The Brazilian Aluminum Association (ABAL) recently announced that Brazil recycled 139,100 metric tons (Mt) of aluminum cans (about 10.3 billion cans) in 2006 for a recycling rate of 94.4%, assuring the first-place position for Brazil for the sixth year in a row, ahead of Argentina, Japan, Switzerland, […]
The Metals Industry Stance on Recycling and Recycled Content
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007At the end of November a coalition of entities representing major segments of the mining and metals industries* issued a joint “Declaration on Recycling Principles.” As you may have discerned by now, everything having to do with waste and recycling interests me. I downloaded the Declaration, jotted notes and questions in a draft post, and […]
Trash Photos XI: A Visit to the Landfill
Thursday, February 8th, 2007Someone recently asked whatever happened to my “Trash Photo” series. No, folks, I did not run out of trash- or recycling-related photos — not likely to happen anytime soon! No, I didn’t tire of posting in the series. I’m always ready to “talk trash.” (All right, keep the groans about my puns to a minimum!) […]
Cans and Bottles for Electricity
Monday, January 22nd, 2007I just read a fascinating article in an online regional news service in Brazil. “Material reciclável pode ser trocado por desconto na fatura de energia” in yesterday’s edition of RMT Online discusses an innovative approach to encouraging people to recycling used packaging. I’ve heard of many experiments in Brazil and elsewhere to encourage people, especially […]
Quiz: Who is 5-Time World Champion Recycler of Aluminum Cans?
Saturday, January 13th, 2007Brazil is five times champion of what? Well, yeah, football (futbol, or soccer as my American friends insist on calling it). But something else too: Brazil has led the world in recycling aluminum cans five years in a row (so it is not a anomaly or “blip”!). In 2005 Brazil recycled 96.2%, higher than Japan […]
“Trash Photos” II: Creative Recycling
Saturday, September 9th, 2006From tiny seeds mighty trees grow. — Old Proverb Here’s some more in my series of photos about trash and recycling (see the prior post of the trash bin made from recycled Tetra-brik packaging). Take a close look at the one on the right — it’s a “disco purse” made of used drink can tabs liberated […]