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Loading ...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 […]
São Paulo Offers Packaging Bill for Public Comment
Friday, May 22nd, 2009The Environment Secretariat (SMA) of São Paulo (SP) today published for public comment on its website a draft bill for a law on post-consumer packaging. The bill would create a rather complex shared responsibility system to ensure that post-consumer packaging in SP is either recycled or reused. Anyone wishing to submit comments or suggested changes to the […]
Mexico’s Superama Chain to Recycle Plastic Bags
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009Mexico’s Superama supermarket chain, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart de Mexico, has launched a campaign to collect and recycle plastic shopping bags. The chain hopes to recycle at least one million bags annually, and notes that if they only meet (but not excede, as they hope to do) this goal, they will save 59.6 metric tons […]
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 […]
Recovering Used Oil in Colombia
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008Recently Colombia’s Environment Minister, Juan Lozano Ramírez, lauded an industry initiative in that country to collect and environmentally manage used motor oil and lubricants known as the Used Oil Fund (Fondo de Aceites Usados – FAU). “This process is progressing successfully, ” declared Lozano, “because the trend now is, without a doubt, business strengthening that […]
Mexico City Formally Implements Its Waste Law…Finally!
Friday, October 10th, 2008This week Mexico’s Federal District (DF) — the zone encompassing Mexico City and its environs — published the implementing regulation for its 2003 Waste Law — five years later than called for by the Law. Although the lack of an implementing does not stop a law from being applied and programs being launched (and the […]
From Banners to Reusable Shopping Bags
Saturday, September 6th, 2008Synopsis in English: The more I find out about the work of Paraná’s Zero Waste (Desperdício Zero) Program — particularly its creativity in finding new and different ways to promote and spark interest in recycling — the more I like and admire their work. Remember the solar water heater made of used PET bottles and […]
Rio Bans Pigmented PET Packaging
Thursday, August 28th, 2008Last month something a bit astonishing happened quietly in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. The state Governor, Sérgio Cabral, signed into law a very short bill. The new Law outlaws the manufacture or sale in the state of pigmented PET packaging. The rationale? Such packaging is not accepted for recycling by either waste-pickers […]
Update: Among the World’s Top PET Recyclers
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008Who was #2 in PET recycling in 2006 (the last year for which there are comparable figures among nations)? Did you answer Brazil? In 2006 Brazil recycled 180 kilotons (Kt), representing about 51.3% of the PET sold in the country during that year. This means that Brazil recycles at double the rate that the US […]
São Paulo’s New Bioenergy Research Program
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008Synopsis in English: The state Research Foundation of São Paulo (Fapesp) has just launched a special program Research on Bioenergy (Bioen) that aims at marshalling the state’s considerable public and private R&D resources to adavance and apply all knowledge linked to ethanol production. São Paulo leads Brazil in ethanol production, and Brazil rivals the US […]