| Surveys indicate that Brazil annually generates around 57 million tons of urban solid waste, of which around 30% (17 million) are post-consumer packaging, which has a major impact on the environment. This is a reality that is observed all over the world and that justifies an increasing concern of society with the issue of sustainability. The concept of sustainability brings us new challenges, not only environmental, but mainly political and economic, being associated with the need to change in social and, consequently, business behavior. In this context are the changes in consumption requirements and the formation of sustainable supply chains. This article aims to explain the scope and impacts of the necessary changes in the supply chain, with a focus on reverse logistics of post-consumer packaging.
History of the concept of sustainable development |
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| Figure 1 shows a series of environmental events and movements that emerged from the 1960s onwards, in the post-industrial period, caused by the perception of environmental degradation caused by the growth in industrial production. raw materials, and the inadequate disposal of industrial waste, polluting soil and water to meet the growing demand for products. by the United Nations - UN. In 1983, the report Our Common Future, originated by the Brundland Commission, brought notoriety to the term “sustainability”, including it in political discussions: “Sustainable Development is the ability of current generations to meet their needs without compromising on meeting their needs. of the needs of future generations.” This concept was worked on in several scientific and political discussions, being introduced in 1987 on a triple-bottom-line basis, which indicates that sustainability is a condition that inexorably considers the economic, social and environmental dimensions at the same time. time: “Protection of the environment and social and economic development are fundamental to sustainable development.”
In parallel with international discussions on Sustainable Development, each country sought to develop internal solutions to environmental problems with local impact, such as water, soil and air pollution. In Europe, Germany is a prominent country in the development of legislation and implementation of solutions associated with the environment. In 1974, the Federal Environment Agency was established in that country with the objective of financing and supporting research in the area, in order to support the development of concepts for the formation of a federal ministry. In 1986, after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Environmental Conservation and Nuclear Safety was formed. Since then, specific legislation has been established for each environmental issue, such as Water, Nature Conservation, Atomic Energy and Federal Pollution Control, among others. With regard to the policy for solid waste, in Germany, in 1986, the Waste Reduction and Elimination Law was established, based on which several regulations were edited, such as the reduction of Containers and Packaging, in 1991; Used Oils, in 1987; and Solvents, in 1989 (NEYMAN, 1996). In 1994, the Full Cycle Economy and Waste Management Law was enacted, replacing the 1986 law, expanding the manufacturer's responsibility for the entire life cycle of its product. In this context, a hierarchy of actions on waste is already being created, among which avoiding generation is the first step, followed by the need to value it, in the form of recycling, reuse or energy generation, or, ultimately, instance, providing environmentally appropriate disposal for non-recoverable waste. Even with this long history of sustainability initiatives in Germany, collection targets were introduced gradually, in accordance with the definition of European targets, having to reach a selective collection of 50% of waste by the end of 2001 and 60 % until 2008. See tables with European targets for the first and second stages.
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| (EUROPEN, 2009) |
| THE BRAZILIAN CASE In Brazil, in 1981, Law 6.938 was conceived, called the National Environmental Policy. Based on this law, several discussions began that culminated in the formulation of the Water Law in 1997, in addition to the revision, by the National Council for the Environment – Conama –, of the criteria used for environmental licensing. In 2000, the law on the collection and disposal of pesticide packaging waste was regulated and, in 2010, the National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS) was established, which is still in the process of being regulated and already includes the concepts of hierarchy of actions for waste management and shared responsibility. The Brazilian targets for the volume of waste that must be collected and recycled are still in the process of being defined. The PNRS regulation indicated a deadline for each sector or company to present a proposal of goals, which will be evaluated by a technical committee of the government and then validated. It is thought that, by the end of 2011, the goals and action plans of each sector involved with the generation and commercialization of packaging will already be in place. the problems associated with the disposal of solid waste are associated with the need to organize plans and goals in different spheres, in order to influence the readjustment of supply chains into environmentally appropriate and, ultimately, sustainable chains. |
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| A sustainable supply chain is one that meets the three dimensions of sustainability:• Environmental Law: seek to reduce the environmental impacts generated by the life cycle of each product. These impacts are allocated in the different stages of the supply chain and can be measured through several indicators, such as: energy consumption, water, CO2 emissions, waste generation, percentage of waste returned and waste with proper disposal.• Socials: act in such a way as to maintain and promote a healthy social relationship between all those involved in supply chain activities, minimizing damage to people and communities. The quality of a chain's relationships can be assessed through indicators such as the number of accidents, hours of training and total income generated, as well as business attitudes that provide social inclusion, reduction of accident rates at work and child sexual exploitation, among others. .• economic: this is the traditional dimension of business evaluation through which one seeks to maximize sales and profitability. In a sustainable supply chain, the economic factors are not tied to each company individually, being the joint result. The effort to guarantee the economic and financial quality of the entire supply chain is a great task. One of the main challenges for building a sustainable supply chain is the knowledge that each link must have of the chain as a whole, in ensure, through relationships and sharing of responsibilities, that the best is being done in the three different dimensions throughout the entire process, from the extraction of raw materials to the disposal of waste. companies to remain and grow in future markets, where consumers and society will demand a sustainable posture, whether through changing their consumption habits or through legislation. |
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| Figure 2 illustrates the necessary transformation in supply chains to make them environmentally suitable, according to the hierarchy of actions proposed in European Union (EU) legislation and now in the National Solid Waste Policy (see Table 2). the emergence of new activities (Collection, Sorting and Transformation of Waste) and, potentially, new actors and relationships. This situation creates a new flow of values and, consequently, new businesses. Part of what was until then understood as solid waste management, and had government management, begins to shape a new economic sector, responsible for transforming waste into raw materials. raw materials and/or new products. chemicals present in the product are the safest, that the products can be dismantled at the end of their useful life for recycling and that the materials contain recycled and recyclable items in their composition. In this way, it is possible to maintain an eco-efficient supply chain, reducing the extraction of virgin raw materials and reducing the inappropriate disposal of materials, that is, treating materials that can be used as waste.
REVERSE LOGISTICS SOLUTIONS AROUND THE WORLD It is estimated that between 2007 and four billion tons of waste were collected worldwide in 2,5, of which 1,2 billion were solid urban waste (MSW). The disposal of these RSUs moved approximately US$ 125 billion through the remuneration of collection activities, landfill, incineration, composting, recycling and other complementary treatment methods, in addition to the amounts related to the commercialization of the 600 million tons of recycled material generated (see Figure 3).
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| (Abrelpe, 2007) |
| The way in which each country distributes responsibilities within this transformation process directly affects the flow of values in the chain and the posture of each link regarding the investments and decisions to be taken. Figure 3 illustrates different ways of distributing responsibilities. Flow 1 is similar to the current European process, in which there is a non-profit entity responsible for managing the waste collection and sorting process. This entity has its cost financed by business associations, in addition to managing the collection and sorting process, and also sells this waste to manufacturing industries. The concept of the process is that this operation is self-financing, that is, the revenue generated by the sale of waste must remunerate the costs of the operation. which is responsible for planning and operating the reverse logistics of packaging waste and its commercialization. The financial result of Ponto Verde in 2008 was positive. As this is a non-profit entity, the results of the exercise are reinvested or used in the reverse waste logistics activity itself or in related activities (Ponto Verde, 2008). However, this result expresses the development of the waste market and the possibilities of obtaining economic and financial gains for the supply chain. Flow 2 represents an alternative in which the government acts in the collection of waste. A priori, the government would not be involved in its commercialization, this being the responsibility of the collection or sorting company. In some Brazilian locations we have a similar situation, in which the municipality (for example, São Paulo) bears part of the collection costs, leaving the cost of sorting and marketing the waste to the cooperatives. |
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| Another common situation in Brazil is illustrated in Flow 3, in which collection and sorting are carried out by cooperatives without financial support from a specific sector or government entity. In this case, the cooperatives bear their operating costs through the revenue obtained from the sale of waste to recyclers.BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES Abracelpe, Special Section – Panorama of Solid Waste, 2007. European, Packaging and packaging waste statistics, 1998 – 2006, 2009. NEYMAN, Monika T. The Environmental Law System of the Federal Republic of Germany, Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law, 1996 Gisela Mangabeira Souza is a senior consultant at ILOS – Institute of Logistics and Supply Chain gisela.sousa@ilos.com.br Phone: (11) 3847-1909 Leonardo Pozes Andina Group Strategic Planning ManagerSee the second and last part of this article in the August issue (nº 189) of Tecnologística or at www.ilos.com.br |
Authors: Gisela Mangabeira de Sousa and Leonardo Pozes
Gisela Mangabeira de Sousa
https://ilos.com.brGisela Sousa is Executive Partner and Senior Manager of Consumer Goods at ILOS. She has already participated in several projects associated with logistics and supply chain for large companies. She has extensive experience in the topic of sustainability in supply chain / reverse logistics and in logistics and supply chain for the healthcare sector. She holds a degree in civil engineering with national and international specializations in logistics, supply chain and operations.
