Brazil Produces More Trash But Doesn't Make Progress With Recycling

Use of garbage dumps is growing; fees or incentives would be a solution, specialist says

Mara Gama
São Paulo

Brazilians are producing more waste and more towns are sending their trash to garbage dumps, but recycling has not made headway in the country. These are the finding of a new report called "Outlook of Solid Waste Management in Brazil".

In the course of one year, recycling barely moved the needle. In 2016, 1,692 towns in the country didn't have any kind of recycling initiative. In 2017, the number fell to 1,647. But in some parts, like the Central-West Region, for example, most towns -- 55.2% of them - don't do any kind of recycling.
 

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Garbage dump in Barcarena, close to Belém, in the state of Pará - Folhapress

Carlos Silva Filho, director of Abrelpe (Brazilian Association of Solid Waste Companies), this stagnation is caused by lack of funding for municipalities and lack of enthusiasm in the general population.

He says there is no incentive for people to sort out their recyclables at home. "People know they should do it, but they don't. We could use ideas from other countries. In Europe, the companies who use recyclables as raw material pay for all for all post-consumption treatment," he says.

"In some US cities and in Colombia, there is a tax break for people who recycle more.

Another model existing in Brazil is a reward system, with bonuses in the energy bill.

To solve the problem of municipal funding, the solution would be to create a specific tax.

Translated by NATASHA MADOV

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