In 2014, Santa Catarina distinguished itself as the first brazilian state to eradicate open-air garbage dumps. Now, a consortium of 14 municipalities is pushing further, aiming to eliminate landfills altogether by maximizing the use of urban solid waste.

The Intermunicipal Consortium of the Middle Itajaí Valley (Cimvi) anticipates that recycling, biodigestion, and composting will handle over 90% of their waste. This aspiring target surpasses the 65% benchmark achieved by Nordic European countries,according to Fernando Tomaselli,Cimvi’s executive director.

However, Yuri Schmitke, the executive president of the Brazilian Association of Energy from Waste (Abren), views this goal as a “utopia.”

“The unrealistic thing is to think that everything is waste, that there is no solution. We have to change our view,” Tomaselli responded.

cimvi, representing 14 municipalities in the so-called European Valley, has been operating the Regional Consortium of Solid Waste Valuation (CVR I) since 2014. This facility processes 7,500 tons of waste per month, sourced from selective collection and industries. The waste is transformed into Solid Recovered Fuel (CSR), used in kilns to produce cement.

“We are the only ones in Brazil to produce CSR on a large scale,” Tomaselli stated.

However, the cement industry’s demand for CSR is limited, and the process requires high temperatures, around 900 degrees Celsius, to avoid toxic gas emissions. This makes the process expensive,according to Schmitke.

An alternative is thermoplastic production, which has been around for four decades. Current equipment facilitates its production at 160 degrees Celsius, requiring only half the plastic mixed with other waste, such as textiles, according to the director of Cimvi.

The use of local waste will advance with the inauguration of CVR II, expected in early 2026. This facility will utilize a notable portion of organic waste for biogas and biofertilizer production,with the remainder going to composting.

“The goal is to take advantage of 100% or 98%,” Tomaselli stated, emphasizing the need to find alternatives for the “common garbage” that currently lacks recycling methods.

challenges and Solutions

“The goal is to take advantage of 100% or 98%,”

One obstacle is selective collection, which needs advancement. Tomaselli noted that in Milan, Italy, waste is separated into five categories at the source: food, plastics, paper, metals, and glass. In contrast, the process is more challenging locally due to mixed waste streams.

To address this, Cimvi prioritizes environmental education through campaigns like “Vale reciclar” and promotes enduring tourism, highlighting the attractions of the European Valley, which includes the 14 consortium member municipalities.

The Girasol Park was created for this purpose, a tourist complex that includes the landfill, the Cimvi facilities, and the surrounding forest, with trails for walks, according to Jaqueline Wagenknetht, an environmental education advisor.

Design and poetry contests among local students aim to promote the valley, named European due to its significant immigrant population, notably Germans, Italians, and Poles.

The name Sunflower was chosen for the park as the flower symbolizes sustainability as a source of oil and biofuel, wagenknetht explained.

Cimvi benefits from the experiences of São Bento do Sul, a municipality of 83,277 people, located 120 kilometers north of Timbo, which has a similar program aiming to utilize up to 100% of its waste.

Jacó Phoren, a consultant for the company 100lixo, involved in the project, explained at the Abren congress on June 6 that a dehydration process of the organic part allows for better waste utilization.

Tomaselli added that fostering new companies that generate solutions for the waste industry is another focus of Cimvi.

In Curitibanos, a city 185 kilometers southwest of Timbo, with 40,045 people, the company Inventus Ambiental claims to have invented equipment that will facilitate garbage separation for better energy recovery or recycling, reducing landfill waste.

Dirnei Ferri, director of the company, stated that their pilot project, based on using 90-degree heat to treat organic material, will be inaugurated in a few months.

Santa Catarina has already eliminated open dumps, although it is uncertain if all have been cleaned up. Now,the focus is on “breaking the landfill trench,” according to Tomaselli.

“We have 36 landfills in the state,only three public,the rest are private,and there is little interest in changing the system because whoever dominates the landfill also dominates the garbage collection service,” he concluded.