Recycling in Brasil: Paper and Plastic Supply Chain

Jacqueline Elizabeth Rutkowski and Emília Wanda Rutkowski
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Jacqueline Elizabeth Rutkowski: SUSTENTAR, Interdisciplinary Institute for Studies and Research on Sustainability, Brumadinho, MG 35460 000, Brazil
Emília Wanda Rutkowski: FLUXUS, Laboratory on Urban and Socio-Environmental Sustainability Teach Learning, Department of Sanitation and Environment Studies, School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urban Studies, UNICAMP—University of Campinas, Campinas, SP 13 083 872, Brazil

Resources, 2017, vol. 6, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Although recycling is considered the core of a circular economy for returning materials to the supply chain, its procedures are poorly understood. Waste recycling is considered a big source of energy saving and a promoter of CO 2 recovery. Besides that, it generates jobs and changes markets worldwide. The Brasilian National Policy on Solid Waste (PNRS) recognizes Waste Pickers as the major social agent in the recycling process responsible for putting Brasil among the ten largest paper-recycling countries in the world. This paper presents an analysis of Brasilian recycling chains of paper and plastics and the main challenges for expanding recycling from Municipal solid waste. The research data were obtained from primary and secondary source related to the recycling supply chain of paper and of the following plastics—High Density Polyethylene (HDPE),Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), Polypropylene(PP), Polyethylene Terephthalate(PET) and Polystyrene(PS). Enterprises of various sizes, including informal ones and WPs associations/cooperatives, were visited, in the five Brasilian geographic regions, during the years of 2013 and 2014. A nomenclature was defined for the various enterprises that operate in the Brasilian recycling chain. Each node of the plastic and paper recycling chain was described. The main bottleneck observed in these chains is the lack of continuous programs of selective collection with an emphasis on environmental education processes in the 5570 Brasilian municipalities. Several possibilities not only to promote waste recycling but also to increase the productivity of the sorting process are discussed.

Keywords: urban wasterecycling; informal recycling sector; waste recycling supply chain; circular economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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