JBS expands circular economy at its operations in Brazil
25 | 09 | 2022
JBS Ambiental, part of JBS Novos Negócios responsible for transforming waste from the JBS production plants into value-added products, intends to expand the circular economy within the Company’s operations in Brazil. The company has just inaugurated two new units in Dourados (MS) and Mozarlândia (GO), and will inaugurate another five by the end of the year. The new operations consumed an investment of R$ 13 million.
JBS Ambiental is headquartered at the JBS unit in Lins (SP) and already operated at 11 JBS production and processing plants in Brazil. Besides the two recently inaugurated units, an additional four units will be set up at the Seara plants located in Guapiaçu (SP), Jaguariúna (SP), Amparo (SP) and the Anhanguera Distribution Center (SP); in addition to a unit at the Massa Leve plant in Rio Grande da Serra (SP) and one at the Marba plant in São Bernardo do Campo (SP). This will result in 18 units operating by the end of 2021.
“The JBS Ambiental units are responsible for ensuring the disposal of all solid waste from the JBS operations, recycling it to develop new products and return it to the production cycle with added value”, points out Susana Carvalho, executive officer of JBS Ambiental. “In the case of plastic packaging waster, for example, we ensure it is recycled and used within the JBS’s in-house operations in Brazil. In the so-called Closed Plastic Cycled, waste enters as raw for a new cycle and is converted into recycled products like garbage bags and plastic bags and for a wide variety of uses: plastic tarpaulins; plastic covers; shrink film, plastic pallets, platforms, in addition to plastic cages for transporting poultry, and Green Flooring”, she adds.
Environmental opportunities and new business opportunities
Besides recycling materials like metal and paper, JBS Ambiental is also looking for alternatives to improve the disposal of those non-recyclable materials. This effort gave rise to Green Flooring which the company has developed using shards of multilayer packaging (PVDC), the plastic used in vacuum-wrapped raw products, and which is difficult to recycle.
“The Green Flooring is already being used as surfacing at JBS’ own construction sites around Brazil, including in Lins, the headquarters of JBS Ambiental, in an area of 2200 m² – accounting for more than five tons of plastic shards that didn’t end up in landfills”, says Susana Carvalho. The Green Flooring has raised the concept of the Circular Economy within JBS, and goes to show that company is permanently alert to identifying opportunities and finding technical solutions for better disposal of the waste its production processes generate.
Escrito por: Oxigenweb