Brazil Introduces Regulations on the Importation of Solid Waste and Tailings

The Brazilian government published Decree No. 12,451/2025 (the “New Decree”), which regulates Article 49, §1 of the National Solid Waste Policy (Law No. 12,305/2010), establishing exceptions to the ban on importing solid waste and tailings. The New Decree provides that the movement of waste under the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (the “Convention”)——enacted by Decree No. 875/1993—must comply with the procedures set forth in the Convention.

For context, Law No. 15,088/2025 was enacted earlier this year, amending Article 49 of the National Solid Waste Policy to prohibit the import of solid waste and tailings—including paper and its derivatives, plastic, glass, and metal—with exceptions for waste used in the transformation of strategic materials and minerals, including long-fiber paper scraps and metal and metallic material waste. The original wording of the Article only prohibited the importation of hazardous solid waste and tailings, including those whose characteristics could harm the environment, public health, animal health, or plant health.

To regulate this law, Decree No. 12,438/2025 was published, and was later revoked by Decree No. 12,451/2025. Decree No. 12,451/2025—which prohibited the importation of waste of any kind, hazardous solid waste, and waste that inherently poses a risk to the environment or public health—removed the importation ban in cases involving the return of waste previously exported by the country. Additionally, it prohibited the issuance of Reverse Logistics Recycling Credit Certificates, General Packaging Structuring and Recycling Certificates, and Future Mass Credit Certificates—as provided for in Decree No. 11,413/2023—for activities related to the importation of solid waste.

The New Decree also establishes that industries using waste as industrial inputs must prioritize waste available in the domestic/Brazilian market that benefits cooperatives, associations, and other grassroots organizations. This aims to strengthen reverse-logistics systems and promote a circular economy.
According to the New Decree, the waste-import exception list shall by prepared through a joint act of the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, and Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic. This list will consider the following criteria: (i) the economic viability and competitiveness of the manufacturing industry that uses waste as inputs in its production processes; (ii) the availability of the waste in the domestic market; (iii) recyclability and effective demand for utilization; (iv) the impact of importation on the activities of cooperatives, associations, and other grassroots organization; (v) potential environmental impacts; and (vi) the purity of the waste.

The Environmental, Climate Change and ESG Practice of Tauil & Chequer Advogados, in association with Mayer Brown, is available for additional information on this topic.