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Loading ...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 […]
Brasil vai elaborar cenário nacional de emissões de gases de efeito estufa em 2030 / Brazil to Prepare National Scenario for Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2030
Thursday, November 6th, 2008Synopsis in English: The World Bank is funding the preparation of a national scenario for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for Brazil for the year 2030, which Brazil hopes to have ready to forward in 2009 to the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Brazilian team includes the Science and Technology […]
Trinidad & Tobago Opts for Systematic Recycling
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008In the 2009 Budget Statement presented Monday by Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheria to the parliament of Trinidad and Tobago, the government announced that (surprise! surprise!) it is finally abandoning the Environment Management Authority’s (EMA) ten year-old proposal for a law creating a beverage container deposit-return system, and will instead is opting for a comprehensive waste […]
CNPq to Invest R$8 Million in Alternative Fertilizer Research
Monday, September 1st, 2008Brazil’s National Council on Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) has announced that it will invest R$8 million to stimulate research into the development of alternative fertilizers. The program is an acknowledgment of the fact that much of current Brazilian agricultural production utilizes fertilizers from non-renewable sources, often imported, that can create both economic problems for […]
Morelos Gets a Comprehensive Waste Law
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007The central Mexican state of Morelos (home of Revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata) just adopted its own 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 laws, or else amended […]
Are Biodegradable Plastic Bags Really Better?
Saturday, September 22nd, 2007In my rant last June about unnecessary plastic wrap being praised by Chile’s Environment Minister simply because it is “biodegradable,” I promised a guest post from an expert who can explain better than I can the debate over whether “biodegradable” plastic bags are really a substantial improvement over conventional plastic bags. I’m happy to publish […]
Investing in Composting
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007A few weeks back Rio de Janeiro (RJ) state’s agency in charge of environmental licensing, the State Environmental Engineering Foundation (FEEMA), announced the first-ever environmental license granted in that state to a privately-owned commercial composting plant. The licensed was granted to VideVerde, a subsidiary of the Venativ environmental services group, for a station in Resende, […]
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 […]
Three Rivers
Sunday, June 10th, 2007Just read a nice review of the 3 Rivers Eco-Lodge in Dominica in today’s Washington Post (if you want to read the online version, you have to register, but it’s free to do so). 3 Rivers is a good example of the small, rustic variety of Green Globe-certified lodging one can find in Latin America […]
Mexico: Feds Issue Guidance on Municipal Composting
Monday, March 12th, 2007Recently Mexico’s Environment Secretariat (SEMARNAT) announced with great fanfare the release of a “manual” on municipal composting. This “manual” actually was co-produced last autumn by SEMARNAT’s National Ecology Institute (INE) and the German technical cooperation agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH. What was interesting was not so much the so-called manual itself, which […]