A Empresa

Reductions of the costs of raw materials – the waste-based cellulose is cheaper than the commercial one.

A single tree captures 132,8 kg of carbon. According to estimates from some organisms specialized in recycling, each ton of recycled paper, besides the economy of several natural resources, corresponds to the preservation of between 15 and 30 trees, which means 4 tons of carbon for each ton of paper.

Economy of natural resources:

Wood - a ton of waste may replace between 2 and 4 m of wood, according to the type of paper to be produced, which translates into a prolonged use for the 15 to 30 adult trees cut the production of the paper that generated this waste.

Water - for the production of a ton recycled paper, only 2000l of water are necessary, whereas for the traditional process this volume can reach 100.000 l/ton.

Reduction of pollution - in theory, the recycling companies may function without environmental impacts, since the critical phase of cellulose production has already passed. The Brazilian companies, however, are small and compete against big industries, which sometimes receive subsidies, and do not make investments in environmental control.

Economy of foreign currency: surprising as it may sound, Brazil imports waste regularly, with the objective of balancing prices and stabilizing supplies in the domestic market. In 1989 only, we imported 35 thousand tons of waste paper from the United States, which corresponds to more than US$ 3,5 million.

Generation of jobs it is estimated that the recycling of paper generates five times more jobs than production of virgin cellulose paper, and tem times more jobs than collecting and treating garbage.

Reduction of the “garbage bill”: about 1/4 of the garbage in big cities is paper. If all that volume was recycled, a city like São Paulo would save US$ 30 million a year in public cleaning, besides obtaining an income of about US$ 15 million with paper sales (if there was a market for so much waste). Brazil, however, recycles only 30% of the total volume of paper and cardboard it consumes, and there is no public policy favoring recycling.

(Source: SEBRAE/SP)