Green supply chain management e economia circular em indústria de manufatura: iniciativas para aumento de coleta de resíduos de equipamentos eletroeletrônicos

Abstract

Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is the largest and fastest growing source of waste in the world. However, only about 22% of this volume is formally recycled worldwide, and in Brazil, the fifth largest generator in the world, this volume drops to just 3.2%. Although there are laws to regulate WEEE disposal, in practice, the volumes formally collected are low, due to failures in the dissemination of information and in the accountability of the chain’s stakeholders (governments, private sector and society). This paper analyzes the WEEE chain management from the perspective of the main company in Brazil to integrate all links in the WEEE reverse chain, from reverse logistics to recycling. This was made possible by an Academic Doctorate for Innovation (DAI), through a partnership between university/industry/CNPq. The company under study, although being the most prominent in the Brazilian national scenario, faces the common difficulties of that scenario, such as the low volume of WEEE formally collected. Therefore, it is not able to reach the desired operating capacity because it does not receive enough of this waste. In this context, the general objective of this research is to develop and validate strategies for companies from the formal WEEE management sector, with a view to increasing their collected waste volumes. For this purpose, Action Research was used, whose cycles allowed characterizing the current Brazilian scenario and testing collection initiatives in practice, directly or indirectly involving the end user participation - seen as the central point for better WEEE management. The analyses allowed the identification of the chain members relationships, and the qualitative and quantitative potential of each initiative tested. This will work as a basis to guide both the studied company and other parts in the sector in planning their strategies to boost the WEEE volume collected, aiming at recovery, recycling and environmentally appropriate final disposal. Among the main results, it was observed that consumer groups involving academic and school audiences are important links for the WEEE collection, and potential sources of success for periodic campaigns. End users-oriented collections were able to raise collection rates around 16 times higher than those usually obtained by the studied company. Informal electronics assistance workshops have a high potential for waste generation, but a lack of a close and continuous connection between the informal sector and formal collection companies could be noted. Thus, proximity to the end user and the link between the formal and informal sectors can meet industrial, social and environmental demands, and ensure better management of WEEE.