REVERSE LOGISTICS: RECYCLING AND REUSE PROCESSES OF POLYPROPYLENE IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

Abstract

Currently, in the business sector, the theme that stands out the most is related to the problem of environmental sustainability. There is growing awareness that the planet's resources are finite and if measures are not taken to control pollution and global warming, it is possible that life on earth becomes unviable. Due to this fact there is also a great interest in the reverse logistics theme, whose concept can be defined as the process of planning, implementation and efficient and effective cost control of raw materials, products in stock, finished products and related information, from the point of reprocessing, with the aim of recovering value or carrying out the appropriate final disposal of the product.

In the last fifty years, plastics have come to occupy a prominent place as one of the materials most used by the automobile industry. The scope of this work seeks to identify the use of polymers by the Brazilian automobile industry, describe the process of mechanical recycling of polypropylene parts, starting with the extraction of raw material, transformation processes in injection molding machines, consumption and disposal of the part. Then, the grinding and return for reusing this material in a new part will be shown. With this, an analysis of the benefits for the environment from industrial ecology will be carried out.