Modelagem e simulação para análise de viabilidade econômica da logística reversa de resíduos de equipamentos eletroeletrônicos (REEE)

Abstract

The technological advancements in recent decades have brought numerous improvements to daily life; however, they have also raised concerns about the management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), as waste generation is inevitable. A large portion of this waste is improperly disposed of, a practice that not only harms the environment and human health but also results in the loss of materials present in these equipment compositions. This situation has driven the development of legislation and guidelines to achieve Circular Economy goals, aided by tools such as Reverse Logistics (RL), aiming to mitigate environmental impacts and build a more sustainable system. However, currently, only 17.40% of the total WEEE generated worldwide is recycled. Various studies have been conducted in the scientific literature on WEEE management; however, few studies focus on economic feasibility analysis. Therefore, this work aims to develop a mathematical model and employ Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) to evaluate the economic viability of RL applied to WEEE in two situations. The first situation involves only the collection and sale of intact parts of WEEE, referred to as RInt, while the second includes collection, pre-treatment, shredding, and sale, designated as RDesmont. The study was conducted using the IDEF-SIM technique, MCS, and the development of Incremental Cash Flow (ICF). Additionally, economic feasibility indicators, Net Present Value (NPV), and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) were used. The proposed model was applied to a waste management company located in southern Minas Gerais. To conduct the analyses, nine scenarios were established, in which price and distance variables were modified. The results obtained from the proposed model revealed that, with the current collection of a total quantity of 3,529 kg of WEEE, neither of the two situations, RInt and RDesmont, proved to be economically viable. To make both situations viable, it would be necessary to increase collection by 76.54% for the RInt situation and by 186.31% for RDesmont. The analysis also reveals that a higher investment in a project does not necessarily result in higher NPVs. Therefore, if investments and recycling costs remain high, RDesmont will present NPV values lower than RInt. An improvement suggestion for the RDesmont situation concerns the disassembly phase. It is noted that by reducing the disassembly time, RDesmont becomes more economically viable than RInt. Thus, adopting ecodesign when designing Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) so that they are easily disassembled can significantly contribute to reducing recycling costs. Finally, it was also verified that reducing tax values results in improvements in NPV values. However, the implementation of economic incentives, such as exemptions or tax reductions, while beneficial, is not sufficient on its own to confer greater economic viability to the RDesmont situation compared to RInt.