The Brazilian government has enacted Federal Decree widely recognized as the National Policy on Solid Waste. The measure creates a nationwide reverse-logistics system for plastic packaging. The decree lays out how companies must organize and manage the collection and return of used plastic packaging, operating separately from local waste collection or municipal cleaning services.
Under the new decree, manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers will be responsible for running the reverse-logistics system. This obligation covers every type of packaging, primary, secondary, and tertiary, as well as equivalent plastic products. The regulation also stresses the inclusion of waste picker cooperatives and associations, encouraging their involvement in both planning and execution. Some packaging types are exempt from the rules, such as those used for electronics and parts, medicines, pesticides, lubricating oils, or any that include paper or cardboard.
To support compliance, the decree allows multiple collection and recycling approaches. These include voluntary drop-off locations, selective collection programs, waste picker cooperatives, sorting and beneficiation centers, resin manufacturers, and post-consumer packaging trade initiatives. It also introduces certification options like the Reverse Logistics Recycling Credit Certificate, the General Packaging Structuring and Recycling Certificate, and the Future Mass Certificate.
The regulation also sets annual recovery targets, both regionally and nationwide, defining the minimum share of plastic packaging that must be reclaimed compared with what enters the market. Each manufacturer, importer, distributor, and retailer will have obligations proportional to the amount of plastic packaging they introduce into the market within a given region. The decree also establishes minimum national targets for recycled content in packaging and details how and where voluntary drop-off points should be set up, taking into account local geography and population density.
In addition, manufacturers and importers must ensure that waste generated during the sorting of plastic packaging is handled and disposed of in an environmentally sound way. This obligation cannot be shifted to cooperatives or reverse-logistics operators unless explicitly stated in contractual agreements. Within 90 days, the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change will issue technical requirements and procedures governing the disposal of such residues, following consultation with the Interministerial Committee for the Socioeconomic Inclusion of Reusable and Recyclable Materials Pickers.
Furthermore, all manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers, regardless of whether they participate in individual or collective reverse-logistics system, must submit an annual results report through the standard format provided on the National Solid Waste Management Information System website.
