Zero waste: green economy is growing and wants to become policy in Uruguay

From small entrepreneurs to large companies and public initiatives, the circular economy is finding its place in the South American country and is lighting a path in which aesthetics, care, environmental responsibility and economic gain go hand in hand.

Together in a green cooperative

Mariela De Facio is a member of the women's cooperative Nido, which seeks to generate, educate and support small enterprises, especially those led by women.

From the Mercado Costero, a place located in Canelones (south) and made entirely from recycled materials, she tells Efeagro about this adventure of circular entrepreneurship that combines good design and care for the environment.

"I find it interesting to think about having a focus on environmental care. I need to think that, if I take care of the environment, I have to throw away as little as possible. I have to extend the useful life of the product and, for that, there are strategies at the design level where I make decisions about what to use, how to use it and how to use it so that the product has an imprint," she explains.
When accessing the cooperative, the variety of products offered is striking: clothes, handicrafts, mates, ornaments, tables and even alcoholic beverages are part of this nest of opportunities.

Now the message she wants to get across to the public is that they should come closer, that they should know that these small entrepreneurs make quality products, that they take care of the environment and that, with their purchases, they help people who today, more than ever, need to grow.

Plastic: part of and solution to the problem

In Uruguay, despite its high level of pollution, there is little culture of recycling. However, there are companies that are looking for new ways and, even though they know they are part of the problem, they are seeking solutions.

Thus, the industrial and household plastics company ATMA has been developing strategies for the reuse of its thermoplastics for years.

"Plastic crates, such as beer, milk and agricultural crates, are breaking down, and a long time ago we devised a reverse logistics system with our customers whereby, as your crates break, I buy them from you and we make new crates," its Operations Manager, Agustín Tassani, told Efeagro.

What started as a cost reduction is now a path that the company has already traced, as it sees that there is a strong market that is betting on it.

Although for now they only do it with crates -more than 70 % of them are produced with recycled material-, the idea is also to go towards household products.

Tassani also chairs the Plastic Technology Center, a consortium formed by several institutions that, among other things, focuses on working with recycled material.

"We are not interested in plastic floating in the sea or ending up in rivers. We are interested in it coming back and being recycled", emphasizes Tassani, who stresses that plastic "is not the enemy".

A north for public policies

As Manuel Albaladejo, the representative of the regional office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Uruguay, explained to Efeagro, the organization provides technical cooperation in circular economy to projects that revalue waste, or collaborate in the transition of companies towards circularity.

As Uruguay changed its energy matrix and bet on renewables in recent years, it has a good basis for implementing measures such as electromobility; however, it also has the challenge of going further in the green industry, such as the development of hydrogen.

"Circularity reaches much further than one might expect. One of the patterns that emerges from the awards is how the theme of the circular economy is driving a business model that is much more supportive and is led by women entrepreneurs," she emphasizes.

Despite the development, the UNIDO representative understands that it is time for the institutions "to be standard bearers" and not remain anchored waiting for international aid, although he acknowledged that Uruguay and Chile are two countries "that are at the forefront".

For his part, Federico Baraibar, from the Waste team of the Uruguayan Ministry of the Environment, emphasized to Efeagro that, although it is not yet possible to speak of a state policy, the circular economy has not changed despite the change of government in 2020.

As part of the National Waste Plan, the Ministry of the Environment created Uruguay + Circular, which, together with other organizations, seeks to move the country towards zero landfill.

The goals set are to reach 50% of recovered packaging (today it is less than 5%) and to improve the figures for household waste (12%) and industrial waste (70%) by 2025.

"Circular economy as a state policy has to be a north, it is something that is slowly being installed," he concludes.

Source: EFE Agro