Solid Waste Management in Brazil

Abstract

Solid waste management is an essential service in any society, being a challenging issue, especially in developing countries. It is intended to systematize all stages of the waste chain, including generation, collection and transportation, sorting, treatment, transfer and final disposal in environmentally appropriate sites. In Brazil, the National Solid Waste Policy (NSWP), established in 2010 by Law 12,305, provides a series of instruments for better waste management in the country through several mechanisms such as shared responsibility, solid waste plan, reverse logistics and selective collection. On the other hand, the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT) set standards (NBR) for the generation, classification, management, treatment and final destination of waste from different sources. Despite the fact that the current legal provisions comprise aspects that largely involve waste management, there is still a lot of progress to be made in this sector. A large number of Brazilians do not have access to basic sanitation services, such as waste and sewage collection and drinking water supply. In this context, the new Regulatory Framework for Basic Sanitation in Brazil (Brazilian Law No. 14.026) was established in 2020 seeking the universalization of water, sewage and solid waste services by 2033 and making it possible to inject more private investments into sanitation services. This law also set the deadline for the closure of dumping sites, depending on whether solid waste management plans were developed or not by the municipalities. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss all solid waste management steps, with a focus on the Brazilian reality, showing the evolution and progress achieved over the years. Furthermore, biological (composting and anaerobic digestion) and thermal (incineration, gasification and pyrolysis) processes aiming at resource recovery from waste are also discussed. The chapter also presents the most common final disposal methods for the rejected waste in Brazil, which include dumping sites, controlled landfills and sanitary landfills. The drawbacks and advantages of the processes as well as the challenges to be overcome by Brazilian municipalities to cope with the NSPW and new Regulatory Framework for Basic Sanitation regulations are also described.