Proposal of business symbiosis to create a construction waste recycling plant in the metropolitan region of Natal: analysis of the economic viability and environmental
Construction Waste. Recycling Plant. Environmental viability. Economic viability. Industrial Symbiosis.
The production model observed in the construction industry uses largely non-renewable natural resources and is responsible for generating a large number of waste. One way to mitigate the impacts of this waste is recycling. In this scenario, the objective of this study is to propose the creation of a construction waste recycling plant from the perspective of business symbiosis, assessing their economic and environmental viability. The research is an exploratory case study of applied nature, with a quantitative and qualitative approach. A structured questionnaire was administered with the companies of civil construction of the great Natal registered in SINDUSCON-RN, in order to know the average amount of waste generated by construction companies, the destination of the waste and if there is separation of waste in the work before allocation. Thus, it was possible to estimate the size of the plant and its production volume, to thereby scale the environmental impacts involved and estimate the costs and expenses, essential factors for carrying out feasibility studies. We used the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for environmental assessment and methods of Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and payback for the realization of economic evaluation. The study concluded that the implementation of the construction waste recycling plant in the metropolitan region of Natal is viable environment as much as economically, as well as the organization symbiotically of companies is seen in a positive way to encourage the separation of waste at work and, consequently, improve the quality of the recycled aggregate produced. In addition, the reuse of waste by own construction companies reduces the extraction of non-renewable natural resources and the generation of new waste, contributing to the reduction of the environmental impact generated by this sector.