The generation of urban solid waste (MSW) in Brazilian households recorded a drop of 1% in 2022, with 81.8 million ton/year and an average of 1.043 kg/inhabitant/day. The unpublished data are from the Panorama of Solid Waste in Brazil 2022, an annual publication by ABRELPE – Brazilian Association of Public Cleaning and Special Waste Companies and the only document that for 20 years has brought exclusive and updated indicators on the generation, collection and disposal of waste. in the country.
The reduction in waste production, however, was less than the increase recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic period (2020/2021). “We observed that this regression in the generation is less related to an increase in consumption awareness and much more related to the adoption of the hybrid model on a larger scale, which, even with the resumption of a good part of the activities in person, kept the residences as a place relevant in waste generation. Allied to this is the socio-economic panorama, with the variation in the consumer’s purchasing power”, observes Carlos Silva Filho, CEO of ABRELPE.
According to the report, at the regional level, the Southeast accounts for almost 50% of the total waste generated in the country, with an index of 450 kg/inhabitant/year, while the North and Midwest regions represent approximately 7.5% of total (each).
The survey shows that, even with a percentage growth observed in the collection, the advance in the universalization of this service continues in slow steps, with a total of 76.1 million tons of MSW collected in 2022 (93% coverage).
“Even with a percentage increase in the collection service, we still have a considerable contingent of people – around 15 million Brazilians – who do not have regular garbage collection at their doorsteps, that is, they do not even have this basic and essential service. ”, says Silva Filho.
The publication shows that only the Southeast (98.6%), South (97%) and Midwest (95%) regions have already achieved a collection coverage rate higher than the national average (93%). The North (82.78%) and Northeast (82.7%) regions fail to collect almost 20% of the waste generated in households located in these regions.
Final Destination
The 2022 edition of the Panorama of Solid Waste in Brazil highlights yet another small advance in the proper disposal of waste. In just over a decade of the effectiveness of the National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS), it is the first time that the document registers a drop in the amount of waste with inadequate disposal (disposed of in open dumps and controlled landfills). Despite the encouraging data, the publication shows that the indicator is still below what the Law determines and, in 2022, controlled landfills and open-air dumps were responsible for still receiving almost 39% of the total waste collected, or 29.7 million tons, and affect the health of 78 million people.
The Panorama also shows that 61% of the waste collected in 2022 was disposed of in environmentally correct landfills, an evolution that has been noticed since the last editions. The best rates of proper disposal were verified in the Southeast and South regions, both with 74.3% and 71.6%, respectively, and demonstrate that it is possible to move forward consistently towards the end of inappropriate disposal practices in the country. At the other end, the situation is still worrying. The North, Northeast and Midwest regions register a correct destination well below the national average – 36.6%, 37.2% and 43.5%, respectively.
“Despite the evolution observed in recent periods and the rate of 61% of proper disposal in 2022, the pace for adaptation remains very slow, mainly in the North and Northeast regions, where open-air dumps and controlled landfills continue to operate indiscriminately, contrary to legal determinations and which have been in force for decades and making the achievement of the goals of the National Solid Waste Plan (Planares) more distant”, comments the CEO of ABRELPE.
Applied resources
According to the document, there is still a lack of resources to fund the sector’s operations, which directly affects the execution, expansion and modernization of services. The resources applied by the municipalities for the execution of urban cleaning services and solid waste management – such as collection, transport, disposal, street sweeping, fair cleaning, maintenance of parks, squares and gardens, among other services – were R$ 10.95 inhab/month.
“Since the pandemic, services for waste management and handling have increased a lot and resources, which were already insufficient, have become even scarcer, generating an overload on municipal budgets. This scenario demonstrates the extreme relevance of the provisions of the basic sanitation legal framework that impose the obligation to pay for such services through remuneration from users”, analyzes the CEO of ABRELPE.
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