Johanes mine in Sandersdorf (a landfill) -Germany © Yann Arthus-Bertrand
An incentive to recycle
26/08/2008

How can 450 000 drinks cans, that is to say the equivalent of 6 tons of aluminium, be collected and recycled every day in Brazil ? It's simple : you just need to offer to reduce the electricity bill of homes which take part in the collection of aluminium waste. This is what a firm which produces and recycles aluminium did, with the backing of the electrical company Light. This scheme, which started in 2005 in a Rio favela, is currently running in three Brazilian states; in 2008, a million people have benefited from this initiative and have been made aware of the advantages of recycling.