Tiffany Dudduean Kongvaranont 1 MKT 615 Emerging Markets

Brazil Waste Management

According to the Thunderbird case, waste management is one of the most obvious problems of rapidly increasing urbanization and economic development in most developing countries. Since 2005, Brazils economy has emerged from poverty, bringing in a massive number of industrial activities that has contributed to a rapid increase in solid waste volume. The lack of sufficient infrastructures, technological operations and government regulations are three main institution voids presenting in Brazils waste problem. Without an effective solid waste management program, the waste can result in severe health hazards and have negative impact on the environment and the economy. Emerging countries like Brazil face the problems of insufficient infrastructure because the country has expanded too fast. Its government has not created a sufficient infrastructure to help accommodate the growth in population and consumption. Government inefficiency is also another factor that prevents Brazil from applying efficient technology to address the problem. Brazil ranked 125th out of 134 countries on the number of procedures required to start a business. This is one example of its inefficiency. Moreover, it took 20 years of discussions in its Congress, after pleasing many different lobbies, for Brazil to pass its first national waste management law in 2010. There are many studies, however, that show the imperative for Brazil to resolve this problem and the opportunity to benefit from the solution. As pointed out in the case, by implementing the modern and safe landfill or other alternative waste disposal methods, Brazil will be able to improve municipal solid management practices, better the quality of their citizens lives, reduce poverty among waste pickers, improve its infrastructure through private sector investment and capitalize on its carbon finance projects. Brazil can achieve these goals through partnerships with the foreign and private sectors through the ease of Brazils new legislationNational Framework for Solid Waste. The new law should attract foreign investors with technological skills and investment to become the main players of waste management services. The Brazilian government has tried to response to the waste management problem in the past decades, but the result has been more uneven distributed services among the cities. According to the study, while government spent between 20%-50% of their budget on solid waste management, 30%-60% of solid wastes remain uncollected and less than 50% of the population is served. It has been estimated that approximately 50% of the 150,000 tons of solid wastes collected in Brazil each day is currently sent to

Tiffany Dudduean Kongvaranont 2 MKT 615 Emerging Markets open landfills. Moreover, the disparity in the standard of waste treatment remains significant between the big cities and small town communities. Problems in waste management are not unique to only Brazil; it is a major challenge in urban areas throughout the world. China, for example, faced problems with open landfills, dumping and a shortage of municipal and industrial waste treatment capacity in the late 1990s. Chinese legislations such as The Waste Disposal Act and the Resource Recycling Act were established to address the problem. In India, waste pickers are still one of the remaining problems the country facing. The improper and manual handling of solid waste and the transfer of waste to open landfills creates unhygienic conditions and hazardous pollution. There are several lessons we can take away from Brazil for other markets. It is very important for developing countries to understand the impact of its rapid growth. Such government needs to take into account for environmental impact and the development of sufficient infrastructures, accompanying with its bustling economy. Every aspects of development, such as government regulations, infrastructures and technological skills, must be taken into account. Government agency must be prompted to change and adapt quickly. As we have learned from Brazil case that one of the institution voids in the country is the inefficiency to react to change of its government. Acquiring necessity technical skills is another institution voids that one can learn from Brazil and other emerging markets. The necessity of acquiring advanced skill sets will contribute to the development of the countrys infrastructure to accommodate growth and to efficiently response to any social and economical problems arise such as waste management.