Inventário do ciclo de vida do processo de reciclagem de plásticos de resíduos de equipamentos elétricos e eletrônicos (REEE): um estudo de caso

Abstract

The consumption of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) has rapidly increased due to the increasing technological advances and the desire of society of using these products. Therefore, the generation of wastes electrical and electronic equipment l (WEEE) is increasing consistently. WEEE contain components that are harmful to human health and the environment because they have in their composition various dangerous substances, such as heavy metals and flame retardants. In order to manage such wastes, the Brazilian law number 12,305 / 2010 known as the National Policy on Solid Waste (NPSW), entered into force in August 2014. The law provides guidelines for the integrated and solid waste management through the allocation and appropriate treatment by reverse logistics following a hierarchy consisting of non-generation, reduction, reuse, recycling, treatment and final disposal in landfills. Considering this context, this research uses an environmental management tool known as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that identifies, quantifies and assesses the environmental aspects associated with products, processes and services throughout their lifecycle. The life cycle begins when resources are required (raw materials, energy and water) for a particular product manufacturing and ends after the end of its life returning to the environment. Some benefits that LCA provides are the environmental impact assessment and identification of critical points associated with a particular product and or process, or in comparing two or more products and or similar processes guiding decision-making. It is also effective in the selection of relevant environmental indicators for products and or processes, quantification of environmental emissions for each stage of the life cycle of a product and or process and evaluation of human and ecological effects of consuming materials. The set of data and calculation procedures that define the inputs and outputs of a system aiming to quantify energy consumption, raw material and other physical inputs and outputs consist of products, air emissions, water waste, solid waste and other environmental aspects is known as Life Cycle Inventory (LCI). This study aimed to the preparation of Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) of WEEE plastic recycling process at a company in the region of Sorocaba/SP focusing on waste related to Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The results observed provided to identify and quantify environmental aspects generated in WEEE recycling steps and can thus, in the future, continue the study through the stages of Evaluation and Interpretation of results for obtention of every category of environmental impact and their respective contribution. The results obtained allowed the comparison of the production process of high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), both recycled with the same of virgin raw material source, which was founded that the studied system saves about 90% of energy for recycling HIPS and ABS and provided a 84% reduction in CO2 emissions into the atmosphere for the recycling of HIPS and 87% of CO2 into the recycling of ABS. The study showed that the WEEE plastic recycling process provided benefits for the environment and human health by reducing the consumption of natural resources and energy, and contributed to the guidelines proposed in NPSW, which settles a requirement of reverse logistics for WEEE. The research also contributed to the expansion of the LCA database in Brazil and the world can be used in future work of the same nature.