Creating a New Environment
Brazil is geographically the 5th largest nation in the world. In 2011 the population of Brazil produced over 61.9 million tons of waste with an estimated 42% of the waste being disposed of incorrectly and in eco-sensitive environments (de Sousa Jabbour et al., 2013). This blog discusses the impact on national policy on innovation in all sectors of industry including both private and public agencies. Through new founded national regulations, industries are required by law to invest in new environmental friendly practices in the production of materials and the disposal of waste. Brazil’s national policy for solid waste listed eight challenges and opportunities including: promotion of a waste management hierarchy, development of cleaner technologies, providing incentives to the recycling industry, invest in R&D for cleaner technologies, direction of strategic focus of companies to go ‘green’, knowledge acquisition of solid waste plans, compliance with the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals, and improve education for solid waste professionals. In a public aspect, de Sousa Jabbour et al. (2013) stated, “The federal regulations not only influence private industrial practices, but also public agencies, especially at the municipal level. Municipalities are required to manage household wastes and eastes generated from public departmental efforts” (p. 8). Sadly, 95% of Brazilian States and Municipalities did not deliver their compliance plans on time, reasons for this may include vague specified goals, lock of coordination amongst contractors and supply chain partners, and a lack of expert knowledge in solid waste management and reverse logistics (de Sousa Jabbour et al., 2013).
de Sousa Jabbour, A. B. L., Jabbour, C. J. C., Sarkis, J., & Govindan, K. (2014). Brazil’s new national policy on solid waste: challenges and opportunities. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 16(1), 7-9.
The Public Entrepreneur 
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