Dilma meets Cristina

midiacon.com.br

Dilma on her first trip abroad - to Argentina, to meet her countertype, Cristina de Kirchner. Both large countries of Latin America are new ruled by women.

Top executive salaries are paid in... São Paulo

The Economist, January 27, 2011

This week's The Economist is running an article on a market study on executive pay. In Brazil, specifically, São Paulo, pay is highest, with generous bonuses to boot - coupled with extremely high taxes, this makes hiring executive professionals daunting. Even without the real valorization, São Paulo is an expensive place to hire top-execs, when you get them.

In addition, a befriended Blog (Expat American in Brazil) confirms what I have also noticed: Scarce local labor (especially on a high level) is starting to make an export of labor from other countries an option - in addition to trying to get Brazilian Expats abroad to return to Brazil.

Recycling Paradise

According to one number, the citizens of the city of Sao Paulo produce 17.000 tons of trash every day. Other estimates put the garbage at up to 3.5kg per capita per day, a whopping 40.000 tons.

Regardless of the exact amount, a mere 1% of this gets recycled, compared with 23% in Curitiba. Cities in Germany have a minimum of 35%, most much more.

One would think that there are not enough incentives for this, right? I do not think so. Thousands of people make a living, collecting recyclable waste and bringing this to cooperatives that re-process the material. Usually, these are very poor people that pull their carts, paper and plastic piled high - more fortunate drive around with ramshackle cars and trucks, collecting what they can. And the returns are not so bad. Carton sells for R$0,50, Clear plastic for R$1,00 and Aluminum for up to R$3,00.

Let's do the math. Assuming Sao Paulo could elevate the recyclingquote to 20%, at least 3400 tons per day would be recycled - 1.2m tons per year, at a value of at least 620m BRL.

And while I do this math, Sao Paulo is forced to export trash, as all city landfills are full and the only incinerration plant IN THE COUNTRY is still in construction.

I smell a pretty solid business plan. (no pun intended)