A small incinerator for urban solid waste is currently being installed by the company Usitrar Eco-Energy in the town of Riozinho, in proximity to the city of Cacoal in the Brazilian State of Rondônia. [1][2][3]

It is conceptualized as a carbonization plant that uses a pyrolysis procedure and lower temperatures than common incinerators, transforming waste into coal that can be used in industrial and thermoelectric processes. [4] Proponents of the project praise the plant as “the most modern, efficient and viable in the world” and promise the creation of jobs and economic activity in the region. That would convert Cacoal into a pioneer in waste-based energy generation, while at the same time reducing waste volumes and supposedly solving problems of environmental contamination at dumpsites. Considering the applied technology as harmless and safe, they also argue that the carbonization plant would work in “partnership” with wastepickers and industries from the region, so that all waste will first pass treatment of wastepickers. Thus, only what is really disposable would end up in the pyrolysis process. Moreover, municipal waste management costs would be reduced by half. [4][5][6]

In 2018, the carbonization plant became opposed by residents of Riozinho who held street protests against the project. Individuals also reported about disinformation, as they had initially believed that a recycling plant was being built. [7] Reacting to that, Cacoal’s mayor in June 2018 suspended the company’s watershed certificate, and with that, de facto the operation license, arguing that there is no guarantee that the plant would not cause risks to public health. [7][8][9] In July 2018, the carbonization project was furthermore questioned by the Public Ministry of Rondônia, which also requested the cancellation of Usitrar’s installation permit issued by the municipality as well as of the environmental license issued by the public authority Sedam, on the grounds of the precautionary principle and lacking environmental impact studies. It moreover requested a temporary stop of the advancing of the project and the Prosecutor’s Office of Cacoal to investigate possible irregularities in the environmental licensing process. [2][3] The former was however turned down by a judge, who argued that incineration project would be within the legislative framework, ensuring both economic activity and competition as well as environmental protection through the reduction of waste volumes. Hence, the company relaunched construction works at the site. [2][4] Project proponents then appeased that objections would only come because pyrolysis technology is still not well established in Brazil and would thus, as “something new”, encounter fear. [6]

In the following, especially the wastepicker movement publicly mobilized against the carbonization plans in Cacoal. In August 2018, wastepicker associations and cooperatives from the entire region linked to the National Movement of the Collectors of Recyclable Material (MNCR) held a demonstration march with 150 participants to the town hall of Cacoal and demanded the stop of construction works at the plant and of all incineration plans in Rondônia. Participants declared: “Catador unido, jamais será vencido”. [1][2][10][11] Wastepickers cooperatives expressed the fear that, contrary to what the company promises, the carbonization process would led to the simple burning of recyclable material. [11][12] Hence, the movement particularly pointed to the adverse social implications of waste incineration which directly jeopardizes recycling work. It thus affects the basic source of income and survival for thousands of wastepickers – in case of Riozinho, almost 6,000 wastepickers in the state of Rondônia – two thirds of them working informally, and the rest organized in associations or cooperatives. The loss of recycling jobs due to the burning of waste would especially affect those with lower employability. As they moreover argued, law 12.305/10, which implements Brazil’s solid waste policy, only allows for incineration as a measure of last resort in areas without existing recycling infrastructure. Rondônia, however, has 22 recycling cooperatives and functioning landfills. [1][11] The campaign against the carbonization plant was supported by MFM Soluções Ambientais,operator of three landfills in Rondônia. [1][13][14]

The movement also pointed to the public health and environmental risks related to incineration: First, there are remaining problems in the filtering of micro-particles, which would require major investments and rigid safety standards, and, second, the treatment process of slag and toxic ash resulting from incineration remains critical and largely unaddressed. [14] Such concerns were also expressed by residents of Riozinho who held new street protests against the incineration plans. Calling the project a “factory of cancer”, the protesters particularly expressed concerns about respiratory and potentially carcinogenic impacts of emitted toxins. [5] Also several council members in public statements blamed public authorities for a lack of responsibility and raised concerns about the immanent start of operation of the incinerator. They also pointed to the lack of public debate, audiences and consulting of the council, the unsolved concerns over environmental security and the impacts on wastepicker livelihoods. [1] [11]

For a longer time, incineration and carbonization plans have been increasingly proposed across Brazil but also face opposition by a broad civil society movement under the slogan “No to incineration!”. In particular, more than 20 Brazilian civil society organizations, including the National Movement of the Collectors of Recyclable Material (MNCR) and the Global Alliance for Incineration Alternatives (GAIA), launched a new declaration against urban waste incineration in 2018 as part of the ‘National Coalition against the Incineration of Waste’. As an alternative, they demanded more support for recycling work as a way to comply with Brazil’s National Solid Waste Policy. As they point out, that would, among others, imply political measures to incentivize reduction, reuse and recycling of waste and a ban of false solutions such as incineration. [14][15] In 2019, a series of mobilizations against took place across Brazil, both against specific projects and ongoing legislative projects that aim to establish incineration within public policy. Most notably, Brazil Zero Waste Program (Lixão Zero Program) and a resolution enacted in April 2019 set incineration as the country’s official waste management policy, which, as opponents argue, contradicts with the promised promotion of recycling work done by wastepickers. [16]

As of December 2019, there is no new information about the advancing of the carbonization project in Riozinho.

Investment sum in the plant and carbonization technology was R$ 10 million. [6] It was expected to create 30 jobs, a tax revenue of R$ 1.5 million for the municipality, and new economic opportunities through the commercialization of generated coal. [4] However, as outlined above, wastepicker movements see 6,000 jobs endangered, of both informal recyclers and people emplyed in one of Rondônia’s 22 wastepicker cooperatives. [1] One cooperative alone reports to employ recycle material between 80 and 100 tons per month, particularly plastic and paper. [9]