ARGENTINA: Bacteria Eat Alkaline Batteries
BUENOS AIRES - Sulfur-eating bacteria may be the solution to the contamination caused by used alkaline batteries, say scientists at Argentina's National University of San Martín.

Researchers developed an experimental reactor after isolating the bacteria Acidithiobacilus thiooxidans, which live in the hotsprings of Copahue, in the southern province of Neuquén, and which are already being used successfully in copper and gold mining.

The bacteria were placed in the reactor with the used batteries. The microorganisms eventually converted sulfur into sulfuric acid, which completely dissolved the batteries.

The metal residue can be recovered using electrolysis techniques.

Biotechnologist Gustavo Curutchet says the reactor functions well and could be used on a greater scale because of its low costs and minimal environmental impacts.

LIMA - The Peruvian non-governmental Office of Environmental Assessment and Consulting is designing a plan to organize the efforts of some 5,000 informal garbage collectors, who recycle 10 percent of Lima's solid waste.

Before the nearly 4,000 tons of waste are collected by the municipal garbage service each day, the workers -- without any protection -- dig through it looking for paper, plastic, glass and metal to recycle.

They receive six cents on the dollar per kilogram of paper, and 30 cents per kilogram of metal, dealing with intermediaries who in turn sell it by the tons to various industries.

The plan, which will be coordinated by Lima's municipal authorities, aims to triple the percentage of waste being recycled, says activist Marco Alegre.

BOGOTA - A program to relocate the garbage dumps near the northern Colombian airport of Barranquilla and a citizen education campaign aim to put an end to flight safety problems.

At a cost of 542,000 dollars, the initiative is to resolve a sanitary problem and the constant danger of air accidents resulting from scavenger birds getting caught in aircraft turbines.

There are 12 illegal dumps within two km of the airport, although international norms stipulate a distance of at least eight km.

The elimination of these sites will include the participation of government, a concessionary firm and the informal garbage collectors who until now, for small sums of money, pick up household waste and dump it in unauthorized sites.

SAN JOSE - On Sep. 26 the first center dedicated to environmental education and research of crocodiles and caimans opens its doors in Costa Rica.

Located in the Pacific Marine Park, in the eastern port of Puntarenas, 130 km from the capital, it will focus its studies on the reproduction of these giant lizards in captivity.

"The objective is for Costa Ricans, especially in rural areas, to learn to coexist with these species, to appreciate their role in nature and to protect their habitat," biologist Lauro Porras, head of the new institution, told Tierramérica.

The crocodile is in danger of extinction in this country, and the caiman survives in reduced populations, but suffers from loss of habitat and overhunting.

MANAGUA - The incidence of acute respiratory ailments in Nicaragua decreased 23 percent in the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period in 2002, says Maribel Orozco, director of epidemiological monitoring at the Ministry of Health.

Fires not only wipe out forests but were also a leading cause in recent years of the proliferation of such illnesses, Orozco told Tierramérica.

As of the first week of September, 816,246 people, mostly under age five or over 50, suffered some sort of acute respiratory ailment, marking a sharp decline from last year's total.

TEGUCIGALPA - The Honduran non-governmental Vida Environment and Development Foundation has under its custody, after a decade of existence, 300,000 hectares of protected areas.

The foundation has 400 conservation, protected area and environmental education projects underway.

Its primary purpose is to halt the deterioration of the forests in Honduras, which each year loses 120,000 hectares of tree-covered areas, foundation vice-president Carlos Calderón told Tierramérica.

With the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Canadian government, the Vida Foundation is also working with municipal governments to preserve six watersheds in the north, south and west of Honduras.