Brazilian Ministry of the Environment Implements the Waste Transport Manifest and the National Solid Waste Inventory
On June 30, 2020, Ordinance No. 280 issued by the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment was published, establishing the Waste Transport Manifest (“MTR”) and the National Solid Waste Inventory.
Ordinance No. 280/2020 determines that the solid waste generators subject to the elaboration of the Solid Waste Management Plan (“PGRS”) must register the handling of their waste in the MTR, establishing to all members of the chain (generator, transporter, temporary storage, if applicable, and the final receiver) the obligation to certify, successively, the generation, storage, transport and receipt of solid waste until its environmentally adequate final destination.
The MTR is a self-declared document, with its own numbering, valid throughout the national territory, and generated through the National System of Information on Solid Waste Management (“SINIR”) exclusively by the solid waste generator, which allows the management and documentation of the waste generated. The MTR must follow the transportation of the waste until its final destination, in physical or digital media.
The ordinance also regulates MTR Import and MTR Export documents that must be issued to follow, respectively, the transportation of waste from the point of entry into the country to the importer (generator), and the transportation of waste from the generation site to the point of departure for export.
Accordingly, the final receiver is responsible for proceeding with the MTR closure (with the exception of the MTR Export, which does not have closure proceedings), with the acceptance of the waste load in the MTR system, within 10 days after the receipt. In addition, the receiver is also responsible for issuing the Final Destination Certificate (“CDF”), which certifies the technology applied to the treatment and/or final disposal of the cargo and ensures to the generator the environmentally appropriate destination of its solid waste.
The National Solid Waste Inventory, in another turn, is a detailed description of all solid waste generated in the country, including those declared in the MTR.
The MTR and the National Solid Waste Inventory will be made available experimentally from the publication date of the ordinance until December 31, 2020, through the website mtr.sinir.gov.br and inventario.sinir.gov.br, becoming mandatory on January 1, 2021.
The ordinance also establishes that waste generators must report any additional information, beside the ones previously declared in the MTR by March 31 of each year, with reference to the previous year, for the elaboration and submission of the National Solid Waste Inventory, starting next year.
It is known that the MTR was, until then, regulated in some Brazilian States, which, by virtue of the ordinance, should proceed with integration with SINIR.
Thus, the ordinance not only makes MTR maintenance mandatory for solid waste transportation by generators, but demonstrates the federal government's concern with cataloging on a national level the generation, transport and environmentally correct disposal of solid waste in order to allow greater control over the management of this material, thereby reducing the environmental impact caused.
For more information related to this newsletter, please contact our Environmental team.
