For the first time, Brazilian companies are being required to inventory their industrial waste. The inventories, mandated by a resolution that the National Environmental Council (Conama) issued last October, are intended to give government agencies the information they need to develop liquid- and solid-waste management plans by 2005. The resolution (No. 313) requires companies to prepare inventories every two years for state environmental agencies and the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), the country’s environmental-enforcement authority. Companies must describe not only the quantity and nature of the waste they generate, but also how the waste is stored, transported and disposed of. “Conama issued the resolution because neither it nor Ibama could analyze the extent of the potential pollution problems... [Log in to read more]