STRICTER MONITORING RESULTS IN REAL PROGRESS

The São Paulo state government invests in constant monitoring to improve disposal
of the state’s solid household waste.

Two years ago, the government of São Paulo state began a detailed investigation into the final destination of the solid household waste generated in the state’s 645 municipalities. To do this, it created the Strategic Minimal Waste Environmental Project under the responsibility of the Environmental Secretariat (Planning and Environmental Coordination Units) and the state’s environmental sanitation company, Cetesb (Licensing and Environmental Management Directorate).

It all began with an in-depth survey of the overall situation, in order to then set real targets to eliminate inadequate waste disposal through providing technical and financial aid to local governments. “Our goals are to do away with open landfills, improve management of household waste, encourage recycling and reduce waste generation to a minimum”, says Aruntho Savastano Neto, manager of the Support to Special Programs Sector at Cetesb’s Licensing and Environmental Management Directorate and also manager of the Minimal Waste project.

To measure progress, a Waste Landfill Quality Index (IQR), already used at Cetesb, was adopted, enabling the analysis of various technical aspects of the locations where the waste was deposited, the infrastructure installed and its mode of operation. The values of the IQR are calculated by studying the different items of these three groups of information. All the local governments are evaluated twice a year by Cetesb teams.

An end to open landfills

The stricter monitoring has proved aeffective. The number of inadequate landfills investigated fell from 143 at the beginning of 2007 to 137 by December of the same year. In August 2008, 54 of the state’s local governments were still judged inadequate in terms of waste disposal, 258 were considered to be in a controlled situation and 334 were judged adequate. “The 54 municipalities with the lowest index rating were monitored and given support and the number had fallen to 48 by July of this year. We are concentrating our efforts in these locations: 18 cases previously considered inadequate have been turned around, 22 pending cases are implementing remedial action and eight have proved to be really critical, necessitating interdiction”, explains Aruntho.

To obtain these results, various actions were developed simultaneously, encompassing training courses for municipal managers, specific environmental education initiatives, support for a more suitable choice of technologies and locations, support in the operating of landfills and financing for machinery, equipment and projects. The regions most in need of immediate solution are in the middle Paranapanema Valley, the Ribeira Valley and the southern coast. The possibility of creating regionally shared landfills is being studied to resolve this situation. “We have already achieved considerable progress in eradicating inadequate waste disposal in the state. Now we need to also reduce pressure on the landfills, working with the 3 Rs concept, that is: reduction, reutilisation and recycling of waste”, says Aruntho. “The Minimal Waste Project is aimed at providing environmental education and incentives to the multiplication of separated waste collection services – fundamental for a more efficient response to the question of solid urban waste.”

Further information: www.ambiente.sp.gov.br/projetos12.php • www.ambiente.sp.gov.br/lixominimo.

A NEW MEMBER

Last September, Intel Brasil became the 28th company to become an associate member of
Cempre. Operating in 50 countries and with a workforce of 80,000 employees, Intel is world leader in silicon innovations and its products and technologies are used by consumers in over 120 countries. “Despite not having a production unit in Brazil and the fact that our products are shipped in equipment assembled by our clients, we constantly monitor the
maintenance of best environmental practices in the whole productive chain. Information technology is a growing presence and we need to assume a responsible posture in this growth process”, says Emílio Loures, corporate affairs director at Intel Brasil.

Participating in Cempre reflects Intel’s commitment to sustainability, from the construction and operation of its installations to the way in which its products are designed and manufactured, extending to its involvement in the community. For this reason, in the United States, Intel Corporation has been listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for over ten years. “Cempre is today a benchmark in terms of environmentally responsible and
technically sound debate. It is one of the few organizations with a real capacity to ally
environmental issues with social responsibility in the work it carries out with the cooperatives”, adds Loures. “And we at Intel understand that the information technology industry cannot ignore the environmental debate, whether in terms of recycling, the energy efficiency of its products or the use of chemical components.”

Further information: www.intel.com/portugues