BRAZILIANS are fastidious folk. They take more showers than anyone else. Their neighbourhoods are spotless. Even the narrow streets of favelas (shantytowns) are litter-free. But much of the rubbish that Brazilians scrupulously sweep away ends up where it shouldn’t.
Under a federal law passed in 2010 all solid waste must be deposited in modern landfills, lined to stop toxins from soaking into the soil. The deadline was a year ago.
That the deadline was missed will surprise few Brazilians. More unsettling is that the law made virtually no difference at all. In 2010 42.4% of rubbish was dumped unsafely, according to ABRELPE, a group that represents the sanitation industry. By last year that had fallen—to 41.6%. In absolute terms the amount of misdirected garbage rose, from 23m to 30m tonnes. Brazilians have a phrase for this: the law, they say, não pegou (didn’t take).
This is a chronic Brazilian condition. Some laws don’t take because they are unworkable. One requires employers to give holidays of no fewer than 30 consecutive days. Some are outmoded, such as one that imposed a cap of 12% on interest rates. The supreme court eventually struck it down. The rubbish law had neither of those flaws. It was “simple, modern, high-quality legislation” says Mario Mantovani of SOS Mata Atlântica, a green NGO....
from The Economist: The Americas http://ift.tt/1Txr6aD
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