Recycling

UNESCO annually celebrates in May the World Environment Day. This important celebration aims to raise awareness among the global population about the importance of collecting, sorting, and properly disposing of recyclable materials, such as plastics, paper, glass, aluminum, and electronic components, reinforcing the global relevance of this practice. This awareness is something that should be intrinsic to people, considering that, with the evidence around quality of life and the appreciation of human beings and natural resources, it is essential to establish a healthy relationship among everyone, starting from the perspective of an evolving society for environmental management.

The economy has been considered unsustainable, draining non-renewable resource sources, with new technologies and process automation, where, from an environmental point of view, there is no balance between what is consumed and what is preserved. In fact, in many companies, sustainable development has been becoming part of the strategic plan and management, taking on a commitment to socio-environmental quality, starting to preserve nature and its resources, and thus resulting in various improvements in their production cycles, their image, and, consequently, their results. Accordingly, recycling has become important in all these manufacturing aspects. Individuals, in the same way, have increasingly become aware of the importance of recycling—as well as reusing and reducing recyclable materials—throughout society.

So, recycling is one of the essential foundations in the search for more sustainable development, which is about meeting the needs of the current generations without compromising the resources of future generations, in other words, maintaining their ability to survive and continue, and having a lasting society. This concept is based on three interconnected pillars: economic growth, social equity, and ecological balance.

And it is a billion-dollar operation with prospects for even greater expansion, given that in many places people still haven’t realized the importance of, besides preserving nature and human well-being, treating it as a well-managed profitable business that involves all areas of society.

The global market value for recycling services and processing is estimated to be between US$ 220 billion and US$ 273 billion, with projections to reach over US$ 380 billion in the next decade. When looking at the broader waste management and resource recovery chain, the global market exceeds the range of US$ 600 billion to US$ 1.5 trillion. Additionally, studies show that about US$ 200 billion in valuable recyclable materials are still wasted and thrown away each year worldwide, according to data released by Business Research Insights in May this year.

The global challenge is to coordinate the different organizations involved in a joint effort, in addition to seeking financial and human resources for better management of environmental issues. It is still a false dilemma to think that environmental protection requirements are an obstacle to production growth; nonetheless, companies are already affected by increasing consumer concerns and legal requirements, in some ways allowing them to foresee what needs to be done to avoid harming the community, preserving resources, and taking a proactive stance towards society. At the same time, it is undeniable that society has been organizing itself to improve the environment (especially air and water quality), and recycling is already a reality for a large part of the population served by public agencies. In the outskirts of big cities, especially in developing countries, but not only there, the lack of sanitation, access to quality drinking water, and so on complicates the whole process of better socio-environmental development. So, the aspect of social equity stops being just an ideological issue and becomes an integral, and never exclusive, part of a sustainable society.

The environment is increasingly seen as an opportunity to open new job markets, generating income. An eco-efficiency mindset shows a big need for acquiring knowledge in the business environment, covering everything from technical factors for adopting environmental management to knowing innovative and accessible technologies to speed up this process.

So, follow this process as a business where everyone profits, while staying aware that companies protect the environment they're part of and, consequently, their own image.