Paradoxes of electronic waste reverse logistics and urban mining in Brazil

In 2010, Brazil implemented its National Solid Waste Policy. Over a decade the country has worked on solutions for implementing Reverse Logistics Systems (SLR) for different categories of waste. Waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) was the last category to be regulated among those that have mandatory SLR implementation. Due to the complexity of the chain and the diversity of products, WEEE requires strategies that range from the effective categorization of types of waste to the incentive to adopt technological routes for the recovery of secondary raw materials. This last proposal consists of urban mining, from which it is possible to recover value by obtaining secondary materials for application in production processes as an alternative to traditional raw materials. However, the costs involved in reverse logistics and urban mining have questioned the effective contribution to the circular economy. Thus, this work presents a theoretical approach to the paradox of reverse logistics and urban mining in electronic waste management in Brazil.