Urban Solid Waste Management in Brazil: Overview, Concepts, Applications, and Prospects

By Joaquim Carlos Lourenço

The management of heavy waste is currently a matter of great concern for public managers in Brazilian municipalities, as generation increases every day. The actions related to prevention, collection, disposal, and reuse, they were treated sectorally, in an inarticulate manner, preventing a systemic view of the problem and reflecting on fragmented public policies.
In Brazil, most municipalities do not have the technical conditions, operational and financial infrastructure to solve solid waste problems. However, with the institutionalization of the National Solid Waste Politics (known in Brazil by the Portuguese acronym, PNRS), Law n. 12.305 of 2010, no municipality can have its consumed waste deposited in the air or controlled air dumps since August, 2014.
Municipal managers and other sectors of the economy, and consumers must participate in a shared way in the management and management process. The PNRS guides the adoption of a reduction, reuse and treatment hierarchy, and thus, after all the treatment possibilities and inexistent economically viable technologies or recycling processes for their reconfiguration for new uses are exhausted, the waste and the waste must be discarded landfills safely.
Municipalities are-own and implement the Municipal Plan for Integrated Solid Waste Management (known in Brazil by the Portuguese acronym, PMGIRS), which is a condition for access to federal government resources. In addition, public waste management policies should offer the opportunity to include trainers and information, without the cement process, through cooperatives or analyzes formed by waste pickers.
The book results from the development of a doctoral dissertation in Natural Resources. The idea of publishing it as a book arose from the difficulty of obtaining a bibliography on this topic, of growing importance worldwide and of great interest to Brazilian society.
A text underwent minor changes to obtain a less technical language that reached a multidisciplinary audience regarding the problem of waste. As developed content was oriented to cover the themes used in waste management and is limited to the environmental management instruments provided for in the PNRS, which were used systematically.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Author's Ed
• Release date: Dec 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9781679071133

Book preview

URBAN

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

IN BRAZIL

Overview, Concepts, Applications, and Prospects

Campina Grande-PB - 2019

Copyright © Joaquim Carlos Lourenço

All rights reserved

Unauthorized reproduction of this publication in whole or in part constitutes

copyright infringement (Law n.  9.610).

––––––––

To cite this book, use the following format:

LOURENÇO, Joaquim Carlos. Urban Solid Waste Management in Brazil: overview, concepts, applications and perspectives. Campina Grande-PB: Author's Ed, 2019. 150p.

URBAN SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN BRAZIL:

Overview, Concepts, Applications, and Prospects

DEDICATION

I dedicate this work, especially to my parents, José and Maria, to the brothers, grandparents (in Memory), uncle and cousins.

Proper management of urban solid waste

is the path to urban sustainability.

Joaquim Carlos Lourenço [2019]

PRESENTATION

Initially, management of heavy waste is currently a matter of great concern for public managers in Brazilian municipalities, as generation increases every day. The actions related to prevention, collection, disposal, and reuse, they were treated sectorally, in an inarticulate manner, preventing a systemic view of the problem and reflecting on fragmented public policies.

In Brazil, most municipalities do not have the technical conditions, operational and financial infrastructure to solve solid waste problems. However, with the institutionalization of the National Solid Waste Politics (known in Brazil by the Portuguese acronym, PNRS), Law n. 12.305 of 2010, no municipality can have its consumed waste deposited in the air or controlled air dumps since August, 2014.

Municipal managers and other sectors of the economy, and consumers must participate in a shared way in the management and management process. The PNRS guides the adoption of a reduction, reuse and treatment hierarchy, and thus, after all the treatment possibilities and inexistent economically viable technologies or recycling processes for their reconfiguration for new uses are exhausted, the waste and the waste must be discarded  landfills safely.

Municipalities are-own and implement the Municipal Plan for Integrated Solid Waste Management (known in Brazil by the Portuguese acronym, PMGIRS), which is a condition for access to federal government resources. In addition, public waste management policies should offer the opportunity to include trainers and information, without the cement process, through cooperatives or analyzes formed by waste pickers.

The book results from the development of a doctoral dissertation in Natural Resources. The idea of ​​publishing it as a book arose from the difficulty of obtaining a bibliography on this topic, of growing importance worldwide and of great interest to Brazilian society.

A text underwent minor changes to obtain a less technical language that reached a multidisciplinary audience regarding the problem of waste. As developed content was oriented to cover the themes used in waste management and is limited to the environmental management instruments provided for in the PNRS, which were used systematically. 

SUMMARY

CHAPTER 1

Overview of solid waste generation in Brazil

CHAPTER 2

Solid waste management and management in Brazil

CHAPTER 3

Reverse logistics: origin and reasons for its growth

CHAPTER 4

Solid waste: concept and treatment alternatives

CHAPTER 5

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

CHAPTER 6

National legislation for solid waste

CHAPTER 7

Environmental Education: ideological and social challenges

CHAPTER 8

Selective collection: importance and deadlocks for its effectuation

CHAPTER 9

Collectors of recyclable materials: Panorama of action

CHAPTER 10

Urban sustainability and solid waste

CHAPTER 11

Perspectives for solid waste management in Brazil

CHAPTER 12

Final considerations

REFERENCES

CHAPTER 1

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Overview of solid waste generation in Brazil

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From the beginning of his life, human beings began to modify the natural landscape of the planet and generate waste with their exploratory hunting, fishing, farming and construction activities. In this period the waste was not a problem, since the content of its composition was simple, and nature itself broke it all.

Current development of societies and technological innovations, the exploitation of natural resources and the mass production of industrial products have intensified all over the planet, and as a consequence the generation of waste, which today is becoming more intense due to the style of life and consumption habits of the so-called modern society.

With constant technological innovations, the industry started to create products with accelerated programmed obsolescence, making clear the tendency of disposable packaging and semi-durable and durable goods. The time to market for new products is almost instantaneous.

At the same rate as they are conceivable, industry-produced products and packaging become obsolete faster, and their elimination by scheduled obsolescence, as well as the discontinuation of maintenance services, technical failures, consumer convenience, and above all, shortening product life cycles.

Trend is the production of durable and non-durable goods with reduced service life. At the same time, it is fundamental to guide the population to make conscious consumption, reduce, reuse and direct to recycling through the selective collection.

With reduced product life cycles, a large amount of waste and different types are generated. Properly collecting, reusing, reusing, treating, recycling and/or disposing of solid waste is a major challenge for public managers in urban centers around the world, and more than ever for Brazilian municipalities.

Challenge is to check even the same cities in the country, including the capital Brasilia, as well as Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte, large metropolises with a financial endowment, but facing health problems.

Increase in solid waste generation is related to urban demographic growth, as the United Nations 54% of the world's population lives in urban areas. In Brazil, this proportion is already 85.43% of the population, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (known in Brazil by the Portuguese acronym, IBGE, 2015).

Population in urban areas grows rapidly across the planet, and as a result of their activities and consumption, there is a growing per capita amount of waste generation consumed.

The consolidation of a culture linked to conscious consumption patterns is increasingly necessary. It is necessary to properly inform the population about the social impacts caused when waste disposal is improperly done.

In Brazil, urban solid waste (known in Brazil by the Portuguese acronym, RSU) generation in 2016 totaled 78.3 million tons, in other words, a 2% discount in registration compared to 2015. In 2015, the generation was 78.6 million tons and per capita production per person per day fell between 2015 and 2016 (Figure 1.1), according to data from the Brazilian Association of Public Cleaning and Special Waste Companies (known in Brazil by the Portuguese acronym, ABRELPE, 2016).

Figure 1.1 - Graph of solid waste generation per capita (kg / inhab / day)

fig_1.1.jpg

Font: ABRELPE (2016).

In 2016, Brazilian each produced a total of 1.040 kg of solid waste per day, which represents a 2.9% reduction in the amount generated from 2015 to 2016. Total solid waste generation, in turn, fell by 2%, and reached 214.405 tons per day generated in the country.

The largest growth in per capita solid waste generation occurred in 2014 when the percentage increased by 2.02% from one year to another. In the same year, there was a 3.20% increase in the total solid waste collected. Despite the increase in the quantity collected, the percentage was still lower than in the previous year.

The ABRELPE panorama showed that the amount of municipal solid waste collected in 2016 fell compared to the previous year.  Southeast region accounted for 52.7% of the total and has the highest percentage of solid waste collection services in the country, followed by the Northeast, with 22% coverage (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 - Share of the country's regions in the total RSU collected

Font: ABRELPE (2016).

Based on the previous year, the direct execution of such a service increased in the Southeast region and fell in the Northeast region. In the first the index went from 52.6% to 52.7%, while in the second the percentage fell from 22.1% to 22% of the total, the other regions kept the index of the previous year, the South with 10.7%, North 6.4% and the Midwest 8.2%.

Furthermore, comparison between the amount of solid waste generated and the total collected in 2016 amounted to 71.3 million tons, representing a percentage of collection coverage of 91%. Nevertheless, around 7 million tons of urban solid waste RSU are not collected in the country and consequently have inappropriate destinations (ABRELPE, 2016).

The figures show that there has been a setback in the amount of RSU collected in the country. Only in the Southeast region, the index registered a 0,1% increase in the amount of solid waste collected in 2016; the percentage is lower than that recorded in previous years. Even with the National Politics on Solid Waste. Law n. 12.305 / 2010, in force, the amount of RSU collected did not evolve much from 2010 to 2014, phase adaptation of municipal facilities to the new Law.

According to PNRS the municipalities had until August 3, 2014, to make adjustments regarding the destination of solid waste. By Law, only tailings, where there are no economically viable and socially sound technical processes, should be disposed of in landfills, considered as the most environmentally appropriate final disposal method.

Most worrying fact is that, from the total solid waste collected in 2016, the amount destined to inappropriate places increased, totaling 29.7 million tons, or 41.6% that went to controlled dumps or landfills, which from the From a sanitary standpoint, they differ little from dumps because they do not have the set of systems necessary for environmental protection and deterioration.

Practice of improper final disposal of solid waste still occurs in all regions and states of Brazil, there are about 3.331 municipalities that still make use of these unsuitable places for the disposal of their solid waste. In the country,