Brazil, world champion in recycling of aluminum cans, has achieved the same record for collecting used containers for agro-chemicals, surpassing similar programs in countries of the North, like Canada and Germany. In 2005, Brazil recuperated 84 percent of those containers, according to the National Institute for Container Processing.

This success is due largely to a “smart law”, passed in 2000, which commits the entire agricultural production chain to “sharing responsibilites”, the institute's Juliana Hosken told Tierramérica.

Farmers return the cleaned containers to the commercial network, while industry takes care of transporation and final processing. Currently, 87 percent are recyclind and the rest are incinerated, said Hosken.