The limits of plastic recycling and its challenges in Brazil

Abstract

Discussing the challenges of recycling is fundamental in addressing the plastics crisis. Especially in Brazil, where the recycling chain is structured around the work of recyclable waste pickers, a large portion of the plastics on the market are not recovered by the recycling industry, become rejected waste, end up in landfills, and have a direct economic impact on waste pickers, whose work is wasted. Recycling has been considered a promising measure to recover plastic waste that is widely discarded in various ecosystems, but a series of technical, technological, territorial, and economic limitations have prevented this from happening in practice. Given these challenges, solutions go beyond technical or governance issues. The viability of recycling cannot be discussed without considering structural changes in the productive and economic system to guarantee greater socioenvironmental justice.