Comparison of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in a Cooperative of Recycling of Materials

In last decades, the consumption of natural resources and the generation of solid waste have increased due to the population increases. In addition, the rapid obsolescence and disposal of products has contributed to increase the environmental impacts. A major challenge today is the reuse of solid waste in order to add value to these discarded materials and to reinsert them in the production chain. It is possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) through recovery and recycling. The Brazilian cooperatives have an important role in these processes, collecting, sorting, cleaning, storing, selling and sometimes even recycling waste. Thus, the present study aimed to analyze the contribution of cooperatives in the reduction of GHG emissions, as well as to highlight their importance in current scenario. A simplified methodology was used to quantify avoided emissions using the recycling process, comparing it with emissions from the production of virgin materials. In addition, emissions from the production of virgin materials were also quantified using Simapro, which covers all processes involved. The results presented significant for the use of recyclable materials in relation to virgins. This way it was possible to evaluate the emissions from the cooperative's shed, which were smaller when compared to the manufacturing process using virgin resources.