A Voluntary Delivery Point in Reverse Supply Chain for Waste Cooking Oil: An Action Plan for Participation of a Public-School in the State of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Luana Dos Santos Ferreira,Marco Conejero,Ricardo César Da Silva Guabiroba,Aldara Da Silva César

doi:10.3390/recycling3040048

Luana Dos Santos Ferreira, Marco Conejero + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling3040048

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Journal: Recycling	Publication Date: Oct 10, 2018
Citations: 4	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Universidade Federal Fluminense

Abstract

Improper disposal of waste cooking oil into sewer systems is harmful to the environment. Through the selective collection, this highly polluting residue can be handled in a less harmful way. The present study presents an action plan for a public school in the Region of Médio Paraíba Fluminense of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to serve as a voluntary delivery point in a reverse logistics chain for waste cooking oil. A case study method with semi-structured interviews was carried out with agents who are part of the chain, including the government, commercial residue generators, collectors, the biodiesel production industry, the community, and teachers and students of the public school. Even though the reverse supply chain for waste cooking oil in the region lacks structure, this study showed that the actors were interested in correctly disposing of waste cooking oil through partnerships and agreements. In addition to the environmental benefits, environmental education actions in public schools, such as the one in this study, can help raise student awareness of issues relative to citizenship and social responsibility and promote employment and income opportunities for recyclable material collector cooperatives and industries that use waste cooking oil as raw material.

Highlights

The circular economy concept is a new business model focused on the management of discarded products and materials that hold promise for reducing their volume, contributing to the economy and the environment
The research question for the present study was: “How can a public school in the RMPF of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, act as a voluntary delivery point and support the development of a reverse supply chain for waste cooking oil?” In order to answer that question, we developed an action plan based on the integration of actors and efforts
The present study showed that the current structure of the waste cooking oil (WCO) reverse supply chain in the RMPF is based on weak partnerships between generators and collector cooperatives and companies, and showed lack of effective communication between the links in the chain

Summary

Introduction

The circular economy concept is a new business model focused on the management of discarded products and materials that hold promise for reducing their volume, contributing to the economy and the environment. This approach is increasingly seen as a solution to a number of challenges, such as waste generation, food waste, resource scarcity, and the sustainability of economic benefits [1]. Stahel [2] suggested that a circular economy would minimize waste by reducing the amount of waste; reusing what can be reused; recycling what cannot be reused; recovering materials or energy from what cannot be reduced, reused, or recycled This process is becoming increasingly important as the amount of waste is growing even faster than the rate of urbanization [3].

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