Brazil Waste Management

Brazil’s Solid Waste Plan unlocks investments and opportunities for U.S. private sector participation.

In April 2022, the Brazilian Government enacted the National Solid Waste Plan (Decree No. 11.043), establishing goals and mechanisms to modernize solid waste management in Brazil over the next 20 years. Through a separate law, Brazil also created credit certificates to increase private investment in recycling. These two executive orders strengthen Brazil’s solid waste regulatory framework and present numerous opportunities to bring U.S. products, technology, and investment to improve solid waste management infrastructure throughout the country.

According to the Brazilian Solid Waste Association (Abrelpe), more than US$ 6 billion in investment is required to achieve the goals established by these executive orders by 2040. Investments will be destined mostly to landfill disposal, followed by dry waste recycling, combustion, and biological treatment.

The National Solid Waste Plan sets goals to increase recycling rates throughout Brazil by 14% by 2024 and then to a total of 48% by 2040, when half of the waste generated will be recovered through recycling, composting, bio digestion, and energy recovery – including energy resources such as biogas and biomethane. In 2021, a study showed that only 4% of 27.7 million tons of recyclable waste was recycled in the country. As a result, there will be a high demand for waste disposal and sorting units, as well as innovative methods to improve selective waste disposal and collection.

These measures, which also include plans to close the nearly 2,600 dumpsites and uncontrolled landfills in operation in Brazil, strengthen the National Policy for Solid Waste developed in 2010. The updates to the plan increase legal security and market predictability to thus facilitating private sector investment and partnerships with the public sector. For example, in 2022 Aegea Saneamento signed a 30-year contract with nine cities in the State of Ceará to provide solid waste services. Dozens of other concessions in solid waste are planned to happen throughout the country through 2024. 

U.S. suppliers of services, products, and technologies to improve solid waste management will find numerous business opportunities during this unique moment in Brazil. Local industry contacts are interested in U.S. technology and see several similarities between Brazil and the United States on waste industry market characteristics such as size, type of waste, geography/regional structure, etc. 

For more information, please contact the Environmental Technologies Specialist in Brazil, Thales Demarchi at thales.demarchi@trade.gov