Resumo

The accelerated population growth and the high consumption of goods and services culminated in the exponential increase in the generation and disposal of urban SW. As a result of the linear SW management, socio-environmental impacts arose due to the difficulties associated with correctly managing these large volumes of waste. In opposition to the linear system, the circular economy (CE) introduces the concept of circular chains, and once we connect that concept to SW management research, the circular chain focuses on reducing the number of materials destined for landfills and dumps.

The circularity of the waste sector presents promising opportunities for resources to be converted into value-added products. In this sense, waste management becomes a significant challenge for society and provides much business potential as waste can be turned into something valuable, for example, energy or new materials. However, research on the interaction between the waste value chain and its stakeholders is still incipient. For this reason, this paper aims to identify the difference between value creation for stakeholders in the linear and circular solid waste chain.

The Brazilian SW management system is linear and organized into five organizational functions: waste generation, handling at source, collection, transportation, and disposal. The circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy, and in the SWM context, it can be applied to reduce disposal in landfills, increase preparation for the reuse and recycling of key waste streams, such as municipal and packaging waste, and improve extended producer responsibility schemes. This study identified the stakeholders and defined the systems and values in each chain, so a comparison is made.

The linear chain of SW management captures little value, mainly justified for: the non-integration of stakeholders, unknowledge of the type of materials in the waste stream, waste of the potential to produce energy and raw materials, followed by negative externalities, also characterized as a potential value destruction system. In opposition, the circularity in SW management creates value for the stakeholders, such as economic growth, new businesses, and job opportunities, saving materials costs, security of supply, and reduction of pressures and environmental impact.

This paper presented a counterpoint between linear and circular SW management. The results showed that the circular system includes a higher number of stakeholders involved in comparison with the linear one. Thus, the change from linear to circular SW management allows different actors to be part of the system, creating more value for each stakeholder. In opposition to the circular approach, the linear one destroys value by negative externalities, such as health and negative environmental impacts, scarcity of natural resources, budget pressures, and others.

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