BVRio presents solutions to the challenges of worldwide recycling markets

BVRio joined the last meeting of the Firjan Social Responsibility Council in Rio de Janeiro this month, led by Fernanda Candeias Guimarães (Ternium Brasil). The BVRio team was represented by Maurício Moura Costa (CEO), Cláudia Jeunon (Operations Director) and Maria Accioly (Circular Economy Specialist).

Maurício made a presentation to the companies associated with Firjan on the context of recycling in Brazil and the world, the pioneering spirit of BVRio when it devised the concept of Reverse Logistics Credits and offered this solution to the market in 2012. More recently, BVRio’s system was expanded internationally with the Circular Action Hub, which connects circular waste management projects to supporters in 40 countries.

BVRio has created a model for remunerating waste pickers and cooperatives for environmental services based on credits. “A multi-partner governance system has been developed by BVRio with stakeholders to give more transparency to the Circular Credits Mechanism,” Maurício highlighted. “Although there are several initiatives in the sector, we still face the great challenge of gaining scale in this market,” he concluded. Maurício presented the Circular Action Programme (CAP) and the KOLEKT App as a tool to connect informal collectors and cooperatives to companies that wish to implement actions to comply with the National Solid Waste Policy.

The Firjan Social Responsibility Council

One of the Council’s objectives is to provide an exchange of good practices and share solutions between companies. Cláudia Jeunon, Director of Operations at BVRio, is a member of the Council and highlighted the challenge of uniting the challenges of the carbon market and recycling.

For the opening of the meeting, Firjan’s Sustainability Specialist, Carolina Zocccoli, presented the results of the study “Mapping the Flows of Post-Consumer Recyclables in the State of Rio de Janeiro”, recently released by Firjan. The State of Rio de Janeiro buries annually R$ 1 billion in materials that could follow the path of recycling and generate resources for the State.

“The goal of the study was to investigate post-consumption trajectory to provide investors, business managers, public policy makers and other decision makers with subsidies for the transformation of Rio de Janeiro into a State that recycles and values dry post-consumption materials (plastic, paper, cardboard, glass and metal) discarded here,” commented Carolina. One of the main challenges is to develop a qualified shared value chain in the State and reduce the burden of waste on the environment.

Taciana Abreu, from the Soma Group, mentioned the need for each company to trace its production chain and contribute to this process. Among the challenges, the meeting also discussed the need to professionalize the cooperatives, the need to get closer to municipalities in order to optimize waste collection and how to integrate new technologies into the recycling chain.