{"id":44480,"date":"2018-07-24T09:43:17","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T12:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=44480"},"modified":"2018-12-05T20:10:15","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T23:10:15","slug":"sustainable-brazil-ecco-point-sustainablefavelanetwork-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=44480","title":{"rendered":"Sustainable Brazil ECCO Point #SustainableFavelaNetwork [PROFILE]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Initiative<\/u><\/strong>: Sustainable Brazil ECCO Point (ECCO Ponto Brasil Sustent\u00e1vel)
\nContact<\/u><\/strong>:\u00a0Facebook<\/a><\/span>\u00a0| Website<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Email<\/a>
\nYear Founded<\/u><\/strong>: 1999
\nCommunity<\/u><\/strong>: Headquarters in Hon\u00f3rio Gurgel, North Zone, with activities in neighborhoods around metropolitan Rio
\nMission<\/u><\/strong>: To contribute to the construction of a sustainable society, identifying, proposing, and implementing integrated solutions for social, economic, and environmental problems.
\nPublic Events<\/u><\/strong>: ECCO Ponto hosts discussions, school and community tours, and events such as the International Day of Recycling.
\nHow to Contribute<\/u><\/strong>: Donate recycling materials, participate in ECCO Ponto events, and help to create more collection points.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Brazil loses billions of reais<\/em><\/a> each year by not properly recycling. But for Edson Freitas, founder and project coordinator of the NGO EccoVida, trash does not exist.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not trash, it\u2019s raw material,\u201d Freitas says. \u201cIt\u2019s natural resources and non-renewable resources. So I have to take care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

EccoVida puts this mindset into practice through its project, ECCO Ponto Brasil Sustent\u00e1vel<\/a>, a cooperative of collectors of recyclable materials that seeks to preserve the environment through recycling. ECCO, in the names of both the organization and the project, stands for “Education, Culture, Conscientization, and Orientation.”<\/p>\n

In 1999 after a sewage canal flooded due to excess trash, Freitas started collecting plastic bottles in his own community, Morro Jorge Turco, and in nearby North Zone<\/a> neighborhoods including H\u00f3norio Gurgel and Morro Faz Quem Quer<\/a>. Inspired by the 1990s funk hit, \u2018Rap Das Armas<\/a>,\u2019 Freitas wrote his own version of the song to show the community the importance of recycling<\/a>. Without former training or work in recycling, he used his car and trailer to construct his own “AutoPET” cart to hold a large quantity of plastic bottles and drove through favelas collecting materials and playing his song<\/a>:<\/p>\n