Brazil Recyling Tobacco Pesticide Containers

Tobacco growers in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul area are eligible to take part in the empty pesticide container collection program from March 7 to May 19. The move is part of a project by the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union, SindiTabaco, and associate companies, in partnership with the Tobacco Growers’ Association of Brazil, Afubra, and now benefits 113,000 tobacco growers and 395 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.

According to SindiTabaco President Iro Schuenke, the project is one of the various examples in which the sector puts environmental, social and governance principles into practice.

“The pesticide collection program was created before legislation now in force, with the purpose to preserve the environment and farmers’ health and safety through proper disposal of empty pesticide packaging,” said Schuenke in a statement.

In its 21 years of operation, the program has collected 18 million empty pesticide containers and become a benchmark for other sectors in reverse logistics.

Of the containers collected, 93 percent are destined for recycling, providing raw materials to other plastic products, according to program coordinator Carlos Sehn. Containers that cannot be recycled are taken to licensed landfills.