Waste Management in Brazil

Cheryl.... So let me take a shot at this peculiar but important topic that you started:

How can you learn about waste management in Brazil (types of waste collected, sorting, collection days, recycling, bulky items, etc.)?

In my large interior city in the state of Paraíba there is NO MEANS by which a person is easily informed about simple city services as far as I can figure out. I went looking for appropriate points of information in the online pages of the municipality but found no basic information about recycling or trash pickup. I apologize if I didn't find something that has been posted but I did look at the Secretaria Serviços Urbanos e Meio Ambiente (SESUMA) pages as well as pages from the Limpeza Urbana section of the city's web pages. Apparently, the best method to learn about services is via your new neighbors - who might not be very well informed.

What is obvious here in my city: there is garbage pickup at residences 3 times each week, days specific to the neighborhoods. Garbage pickup does not include a separate recycling pickup. Recycling pickup occurs only if a residence is located on a non-municipal (cooperative or independent recyclers) route – in-other-words, you need to find somebody to collect that. There is no compost pickup. Food residues are included with general trash. Effectively, the majority of all “trash” includes most everything.

Do local authorities provide information on waste management to newcomers?

No.

What are the main differences you've noticed compared to your home country in terms of waste management?

My home country seems somewhat more advanced in the topic. Minimally, I know that here I can’t find information about what I am expected to do. There are also people in the field (in my home country) to enforce waste management laws whereas I have never seen people to enforce laws on the books here. My hometown of Madison, Wisconsin has a 32 page booklet (pdf) called “Recyclopedia” (also in Spanish – just search: recyclopedia madison) that pretty much defines what one needs to do with their waste. I wish that the same (informative material) was the same here in my community here in Brazil.

How have you adapted?

I follow the education I received in my youth in an age of extreme concern about the environment, the days when Earth Day was founded (Gaylord Nelson) and "land ethic" (Aldo Leopold) were present in our daily lives (Wisconsin). Given that, I have always tried to be a participant (wherever I live) in ecological endeavors and when I arrived here some 15 years ago I became a participant in trying to get recycling out of makeshift landfills and into co-ops based out of urban warehouses as well as getting our local gov't to comply with the ample federal legislation directed at replacing makeshift dumps with proper landfills and fortifying recycling efforts.

Are there recycling programs, composting initiatives, or other eco-friendly alternatives to reduce waste in Brazil?

Yes there are some but they are mostly ineffective but growing. In spite of having required environmental education requirements in public schools, there are mostly no broad environmental education processes occurring.

What we do here at home:

#Recycling = we have home pickup (every Tuesday) by a cooperative with whom we have worked

#Composting = we do our own composting and use the output for gardening. When we overproduce compost it is taken to local farm producers who use it as feed, primarily for swine.

#Reducing waste = we mostly do "our best" to not acquire unnecessary goods and we use reusable bags for shopping.

What personal initiatives can be implemented?

While it is harder to follow good procedures for waste reduction in larger cities it is not impossible. #When I have lived in larger Brazilian cities I still shopped market goods at organic and small-producer outlets (usually street markets) and avoid consumption of unnecessary goods and non-recyclable materials.

#Separate and clean recyclable items and place them in clear plastic bags. If you regularly do this the recyclers (organized or autonomous) will find your material and turn it into something of value.

#Look for local recycling initiatives and support them.

How are hazardous waste items such as batteries, household chemicals, or electronic equipment managed?

Some supermarkets have places to deposit old (small) batteries and light bulbs. Automotive batteries are generally recycled when replaced. There is a department at the local federal university  that responds to electronic waste pickup but mostly one has to follow local news sources to discover where drop off points are for electronic waste. There is no central municipal e-waste drop-off facility. A recycling co-op (COTRAMARE) will pick up gear where they disassemble items to best route materials and route reusable items to the federal university where a conscientious professor has set up means to reconfigure items (fix them) so that they might be used by others.

What actions are taken to encourage compliance with regulations (rewards, penalties, taxes, etc.)?

In cases that gain notoriety (bad press) the municipal/state/federal government reacts but it is piecemeal and usually specific to the cases that make the news. A very strange municipal law, said to encourage proper disposal of waste material (2009), requires lot owners to wall off their lots so waste cannot be placed on those lots. There is no law (one is being considered = Nov2023) to fine those that actually deposit waste on vacant lots. In either case - there is no oversight/surveillance for lots without walls or for people depositing waste inappropriately on private or public lands. Personally, I have returned bags of waste deposited on my street when information within such trash provided information of the origins of the waste. That turned out to be pretty effective on my street (regarding those that traditionally sent their trash here) but surely I have also been labeled a kook for my efforts.

If you have any other relevant information to share about waste management, please do not hesitate!

About the only way that things will change here for the better is if there are more reports to outside (Brazil) sources. It seems to be about the only way that Brazilians pay attention to crazy things that still happen here (like destroying the Amazon?). I would love to see some investigative reporters come and report on the state of the environment here in Brazil. Just like in the USA under-reporting of ecologically critical information leads us to bad situations that are very difficult to recover from (let's talk PFAS in Wisconsin drinking water - who even knows what is in our water here in Brazil?).

IBGE (Brazilian Census) has reports on the status of such things. The latest report from 2022 is titled "Características gerais dos domicílios e dos moradores 2022" (General characteristics of households and residents 2022) and can be found on this direct link: https://agenciadenoticias.ibge.gov.br/m … 31632f.pdf

Mostly, a new resident just has to get involved and ask a lot of questions to figure out the best way to be conscientious about contending with waste in their community.

mberigan

    Hello everyone,

As an expat in Brazil, waste management can often pose challenges and requires an understanding of local standards and regulations. Understanding local practices is essential for environmental compliance and seamless integration into daily life.

Here are some points to share your experience:

How can you learn about waste management in Brazil (types of waste collected, sorting, collection days, recycling, bulky items, etc.)? Do local authorities provide information on waste management to newcomers?

What are the main differences you've noticed compared to your home country in terms of waste management? How have you adapted?

Are there recycling programs, composting initiatives, or other eco-friendly alternatives to reduce waste in Brazil? What personal initiatives can be implemented?

How are hazardous waste items such as batteries, household chemicals, or electronic equipment managed?

What actions are taken to encourage compliance with regulations (rewards, penalties, taxes, etc.)?

If you have any other relevant information to share about waste management, please do not hesitate!

Thank you for your contribution.

The Expat.com Team
   

    -@Cheryl

I am sure this one of those to drive eyeballs. 

Out here, there is no recycling, no trash can taken outside for collection, no Mobster owned trash trucks, no Waste Management nationwide chains. 

Why, you might ask....?

No recycling /no trash cans. You live your trash can outside in Brazilian large cities, the local yokels  will rob  your trash can for no reason.  You fancy  recycling, you will  have to drive with the stuff into some recycling center.  Who in heavens wants to go through that ?

No dumpster for commercial accounts  either ( restaurants, lodging, retail ). Hence  no Mobster Driven Garbage Business. Dumpster Collection is lucrative.  Garbage collection, not as much. Most of it is done by Municipalities.

And it is not because they never seen Dumpsters around here. Construction sites feature them at all times.

And by the way, Dumpsters in the  back alley or on the curbside  are a sure thing for rat infestation.  I still remember showing some Boston apartment in the  Fenway, and run into a Negro gay men couple, asking them point blank about rodent issues in the building, They were on their way out to some Vacation on the Cape, and were quick to quip.... " Mickey and Minnie Mouse do not live here anymore dear.".

In a perfect world, I| would take the Dutch Collection System. Using a street compactor. But this is no Netherlands, so we can  only dream on.