When we talk about circular economy, we must associate economic development with the best use of natural resources, considering post-consumption management. It means generating new business opportunities and optimizing industrial processes, aligned with environmental responsibility.
Among the aspects addressed by the circular economy, it is worth highlighting the importance of managing post-consumer waste, which are materials or substances produced by various human activities and which, after use, can be directed to transformation processes. For this reason, they are differentiated from rejects, as defined by the National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS).
Established by law 12.305/2010, the PNRS establishes, among its objectives, the encouragement of the adoption of sustainable standards of production and consumption of goods and services, the adoption, development and improvement of clean technologies as a way of minimizing environmental impacts; and the encouragement of the development of environmental and business management systems aimed at improving production processes and the reuse of solid waste.
Thus, the circular economy presents itself as an alternative to the linear economy, which is based on the traditional production model. Feedback in the industry, that is, the effective application of the circular economy, needs to be directed towards the development of new segments in the production chain, optimizing processes and providing an extension of the useful life of products.
A practical example of the application of the circular economy in industry is the re-refining of used and contaminated lubricating oil, OLUC. Lubricating oil is composed of a large portion of mineral oil, which receives additives to improve its performance. This mineral oil present in its composition does not degrade during use in machines and engines. And so it is possible, through the re-refining process, to separate the mineral oil contained in the used lubricating oil from the other components, such as degraded additives, recovering it countless times and returning it to the lubricant chain.
Given the current scenario and discussions about the circular economy, we know that we are making progress, but we still have a long way to go to reach the expected levels in production processes, collection, recovery and recycling of solid waste.. It is important that we are aligned and aware of new technologies and possibilities for transforming these items to ensure that the circular economy is actually applied and achieves the sustainability results we need for a better future.
By Thiago Trecenti
President of Lwart Environmental Solutions and AMBIOLUC
