Country updates from Brazil and Peru

Brazil

In June this year, Brazil issued the “Sectoral Agreement for the Implementation of the Reverse Logistics System for WEEE from households” for public consultation. On October 31, 2019, after nine years of negotiations and debate, the Agreement between the Government (represented by the Ministry of Environment) and important industry groups (representing the producers, importers and retailers), has finally been signed. The purpose of the Agreement is to regulate the implementation and operation of a reverse logistics system for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Within the next years, this system should reach the 400 largest Brazilian municipalities and establish 5,000 collection points to ensure coverage of approximately 60% of the Brazilian population.

Peru

Peru, already looking back on five years since the implementation of the first e-waste management systems, has been evaluating the regulatory framework for WEEE to close loopholes and make alignments with the country’s general waste management strategy. The revised regulation, Supreme Decree 009-2019-MINAM, has been published on November 8, 2019 and will fully replace the previous regulation. Apart from continuing to define increasing collection targets, the Supreme Decree will also extend the scope of WEEE categories with a mandatory collection target to small and large household appliances and is introducing fines and penalties for non-compliance.