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    A New Twist to Recyclables for Electricity Programs

    Monday, September 21st, 2009

    I’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 […]

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    Trash Photos XIX: A Visit to Minas’ Center on Waste

    Thursday, June 25th, 2009

    Yesterday 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 […]

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    Eye on Ads: Latin American Idol Urges Paper, Tetra-Pak Recycling

    Friday, June 19th, 2009

    An interesting ad from Panama, featuring Margarita Henriquez Vuela, the 2008 Latin American Idol winner (this is the Latin American version of the hit US television contest, American Idol) from Panama.  Paper packaging manufacturers and Tetra-Pak, the lead manufacturer of aseptic packaging, are pushing a recycling campaign with Margarita as one of their spokespersons.

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    Parana to Tetra-Pak: Fulfill Your Commitments

    Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

    Just 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. […]

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    Santiago Sets 25% Recycling Target

    Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

    A working group co-chaired by the National Environment Commission’s directorate for the Metropolitan Region (CONAMA-RM), the mayor’s office and the nongovernmental organization Casa de La Paz (“Peace House”) — aided by the steel firm Gerdau AZA and the German technical cooperation agency GTZ — has hammered out an action plan to have the RM — […]

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    Paraná Ratches Up Pressure on Packaging

    Monday, November 3rd, 2008

    I’ve discussed several times here in The Temas Blog the carrot-and-stick approach the environmental authorities of the southern Brazilian state of Paraná (PR) take on different post-consumer waste streams, including electronics, glass packaging, long-neck beer bottles, Tetra Pak aseptic packaging, fluorescent lamps and pesticide packaging.  You might notice that most of these categories are packaging […]

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    Update: Tetra Pak & Aseptic Packaging Recycling in Paraná

    Sunday, August 17th, 2008

    I’ve been asked by a reader whether the deal negotiated last year between Paraná environment officials and aseptic packaging producer Tetra Pak has produced the results desired/expected. Funny you should ask that (maybe it’s not a coincidence?) — the two just issued a progress report. To refresh memories, the two-year “plan of action” agreed between […]

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    The Largest Solar Water Heater Made With PET Bottles?

    Saturday, August 9th, 2008

    One of the most popular posts here on The Temas Blog was the one introducing the solar water heater made of used PET bottles and aseptic cartons (mostly Tetra-brik) promoted by Paraná’s (PR) Zero Waste (Desperdício Zero) Program. Not far behind in popularity has been the follow-up post about how the Program is spreading the […]

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    Deadline Near for Long Neck Beer Bottles

    Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

    Synopsis in English: In July Environment officials in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná called in three manufacturers and five distributors (including Ambev and FEMSA) responsible for most nonreturnable long-neck bottles used for beverages (primarily beer) in that state, and gave them until 11 August to present data and a plan to increase recycling of […]

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    Bahia to Adopt Paraná’s Zero Waste Program Model

    Saturday, October 13th, 2007

    I’ve mentioned here several times the innovative Zero Waste Program (Programa Desperdício Zero) of the southern Brazilian state Paraná, such as how it applies to glass recycling, pesticide packaging, aseptic packaging and finding new ways to reuse/recycle plastic (PET) bottles (such as building solar water heaters). At some point I should do a comprehensive post […]

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