Abstract for: Expanded Producer Responsability Model: An Analysis on the Brazilian Case Based on System Dynamics Approach

Ever growing costs incurred by solid waste management have forced many developed countries to develop and implement new environmental policies with the purpose of sharing with manufacturers and marketers the costs involved in handling and treating post-consumer waste. The concept called Extended Producer Responsibility that emerged in Europe in the 1990s, quickly gained momentum across the continent and a few years later influenced new legislations all around the world. Brazil is one of the most recent countries to adopt the concept through the National Solid Waste Policy that was passed in 2010. This regulatory framework supports the principle of shared responsibility with which manufacturers, distributors and retailers are now responsible for its own post-consumer waste. This research aims at discussing the limitations and perspectives of the implementation of the reverse logistics model implemented in Brazil. Results indicate that increasing use of multilayer materials, lack of tributary incentives for consumption of recyclable material and high costs of transportation pose a series of challenges to fulfill the legislation targets.