Brazil has set ambitious plans for its recycling sector in the next decade, involving a significant increase in the country’s overall recycling rate and a doubling of the industry’s current revenue.
According to data from the International Solid Waste Association, Brazil’s 4% recycling rate is much lower than that in countries with a similar income range and economic development such as Chile, Argentina, South Africa and Turkey, which recycle around 16% of their waste.
Carlos Silva Filho, president of the Brazilian Association of Public Cleaning and Special Waste Companies (Abrelpe) says: ‘We are four times less than these countries. We have to accelerate. In relation to developed countries, the road ahead is even longer. In Germany, for example, the recycling rate reaches 67%. Brazil is 20 years behind these countries.’
Although Brazil has great potential to increase recycling, Abrelpe believes several factors keep the rates stagnant, starting with a lack of consumer awareness and involvement in the separation and selective disposal of waste. New infrastructure for the industry is also essential, it insists.
LITTLE SUPPORT
‘There is a lack of units for separate disposal and selective collection,’ Silva Filho explains. ‘There is a lack of screening units and, finally, I would say that there is a lack of a tax structure to allow this recyclable material to be attractive to the industry.’
Inadequate recycling generates a significant economic loss for the country. A recent survey carried out for Abrelpe shows that sending recyclables to landfills leads to a loss of R$14 billion (EUR 2.6 billion) annually, which could be used to generate revenue and income for those working in the sector.
‘In addition, the scrap would no longer go to landfill and would not cause the environmental problems that landfills pose,’ Silva Filho says.
Even so, as part of the existing National Solid Waste Plan 2022 (Planares), Brazil is looking to increase its recycling rate from to 48% by 2040 and close all existing landfills. Under the plan, Brazil will recycle more than 100 000 tonnes of urban solid waste per day by 2040, almost half of that generated in the country today.
Implementation of these plans, however, faces serious difficulties because of the almost 3 000 landfills operating in Brazil and data showing that 40% of the waste is currently sent to an inappropriate site.
Abrelpe’s data indicates that 26% of Brazilian cities have no waste collection or recycling initiatives. Only the southern and south-eastern regions have collection and recycling initiatives in more than 90% of their municipalities.
SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
Environmental manager Telines Basílio, a founder of Coopercaps, one of Brazil largest waste collection cooperatives based in São Paulo, agrees that more active development of the sector is prevented by existing problems.
‘The main challenges are the population’s lack of knowledge about recycling, little selective collection available across the country, difficulty in achieving greater economic viability and a lack of infrastructure,’ says Basílio. ‘[Fixing] this doesn’t happen quickly. We need a long-term plan and shared responsibility.’
Roger Amarante, head of the Brazil National Recycling Institute, tells Recycling International that, while the current situation in the Brazil recycling sector is generally stable, further prospects are cloudy. Amarante is unhappy with the current volumes of state support to the industry.
‘The Brazilian waste recycling sector has low demand from the mills here,’ he explains. ‘The price has dropped from last year and this year we see the same situation: low demand and the economy slowing down. Our main problem is that the new government is not going well. On the production side, they are not incentivising new business and labour but just worry about collecting more tax.’
NO INCENTIVES
This is reflected in the recycling sector, Amarante adds. ‘No new constructions and low demand for raw materials and recycling. No incentive at all. On the other hand, they are creating new tax regulations and do not worry about the environmental side. We are telling congress and parliament how important it is to be supported but they are not concentrating on this direction.’
Abrelhe’s Silva Filho remains more optimistic. In recent years, he says, there has been a positive movement from the public authorities towards regulating the sector. ‘An example is a federal decree that created the Recicla+ Programme, offering credits and loans for recycling activities, which significantly stimulated the market.’
He also pins his hopes on Planares’ goals for the Brazil recycling sector over the next 20 years.
‘We now have the complete framework for this sector to move forward. We really need to make this a reality, transform everything that is available to the market into numbers that reflect recycling.’
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