Sustainability and Social Responsibility at Rio's Carnival

Until tomorrow, Brazil will be caught in the frenzy of its carnival, the world's biggest street party, famous for the lavish costumes presented in Rio de Janeiro by the city's iconic samba schools. Despite the bacchanalian abandon of the party, in recent years an element of social responsibility has been assimilated into the proceedings, in order to generate both social and environmental benefits.

A partnership struck between Acadêmicos da Rocinha, a samba school based in Rio's biggest 'favela' (slum) and Instituto Synthesis, a social responsibility initiative, will enable the recycling of all the materials used at the school's warehouse to make costumes and props.

The recycled material will then serve a good cause. Instead of ending up in a landfill, the material will be made into craft works to generate profits and keep the environment clean.

"In 2005, we created a social responsibility group within our school and since then we have developed several projects in this area," said Déo Pessoa, the school's president. "We're very proud to be part of this project."

The project is called "Reciclando na folia" (which roughly translates as 'recycling during the party') and will benefit around 130 youths who are the children of former garbage collectors from a landfill in Itaoca, São Gonçalo (Greater Rio) and which was shut down in January.

"Those families need to find new ways to support themselves. When we thought of the amount of material wasted after the parade, we thought this could be a way to help them," said Almir Pereira Júnior, a project leader with Synthesis.

The initiative is also supported by other NGOs such as Guardiões do Mar, which Will be in charge of transportation, and Associação Devas, which will offer free eco-design workshops to participants.

"It's important to tell youth as they start their working lives that it's possible to make money with green crafts. We will teach them what we've learned along the years and they will be in touch with a new reality, one in which waste brings joy and income to people," said Devas' Clarice Cavalcanti. "We will show them how it is possible to bring together communities around one common goal: sustainable development."

The eco-design workshops will take place once the material has been sorted and selected. The exhibitions will take place throughout the year in strategic points of sale. All the income generated by the project will go back to the families catered for by a project called Reciclando Vidas ('recycling lives'), also run by Instituto Synthesis in São Gonçalo.

Image credit: Yahoo Brasil