On April 14, 2022, Decree No. 11,044 was issued by Brazilian government, instituting the Recycling Credit Certificate ("Recicla+") program, which will issue credit to public or private entities in connection with solid waste reverse logistics systems. Recicla+ aims to increase the reuse of materials (products and packaging waste) respecting the disposal priority order provided in Federal Law No. 12,305/2010, which established the Brazilian Solid Waste Policy, and will serve to demonstrate compliance with reverse logistics obligations.

Pursuant to Decree No. 11,044, the objectives of Recicla+ are to improve physical and logistic infrastructure implementation and operation; providing economies of scale; enable collaboration between reverse logistics systems; adopt measures to prevent or reduce the generation of solid waste and materials waste within the lifecycle of products; promote the use/reuse of solid waste also in production chains (including forms of energy recovery); encourage the use of inputs with less environmental impact; and encourage the development, production and consumption of products derived from recycled and recyclable materials.

The Recicla+ credit will be issued by the managing entities registered in the National Information System on Solid Waste Management (Sistema Nacional de Informações sobre a Gestão de Resíduos Sólidos – "SINIR") in order to prove the return, to the production cycle, of the equivalent mass of products or packaging subject to reverse logistics. Recicla+ can be acquired by manufacturers, importers, distributors and traders that demonstrate compliance with reverse logistics systems obligations. Each Recicla+ certificate must be unique, individualized to each company but adhering to the collective model, backed by the final destination certificate issued by means of the Waste Transport Manifest derived from SINIR, as well as by electronic invoices derived from the sale of products or packaging forwarded to the manufacturer or company responsible for its recycling or energy recovery.

Electronic invoices issued by operators of reverse logistics systems, arising from the sale of recyclable products and packaging, will be accepted for the purpose of issuing Recicla+ (after its approval) and will constitute proof of the return of recyclable materials to the production cycle to be transformed into inputs or into new products and packaging—as has already been happening in certain Brazilian states with the regulation and use of reverse logistics credits (in São Paulo, for example).

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This article provides information and comments on legal issues and developments of interest. The foregoing is not a comprehensive treatment of the subject matter covered and is not intended to provide legal advice. Readers should seek specific legal advice before taking any action with respect to the matters discussed herein.