Environmental Information System for Waste Electrical Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Managent: Case Study of Pernambuco (Brazil)

The National Policy on Solid Waste (NPSW) brought a new dimension to waste management in Brazil. According to the requirements of this law, producers, traders, recyclers, importers, distributors, and consumers are each held responsible for waste outcomes. The establishment of reverse logistics systems, also proposed by the law, begins from the management of diffuse interests in support of environmentally sound disposal of waste. However, no form of monitoring or implementing process improvements is possible without knowledge of the managed resources and control of the activities. Energy usage from fuel consumption is a central concern for sustainable waste management through reverse logistics systems (RLS). The distances travelled, the type of fuel, and the defined routes are some of the criteria to be evaluated in energy performance improvement. Thus, as preliminary results of a survey of international cooperation between Brazil and the United States, we propose a method of operating waste collection systems, with the support of an environmental information system (EIS) and integration of electronic waste management stations from a cooperative of waste pickers located in Pernambuco (Brazil). Our findings suggest the importance of the EIS prototype in compliance with legal requirements and the potential for improvement of the proposed solution.