The yearly production in Brazil of 670 million pairs of shoes generates 120,000 tons of waste, of which 37,200 tons are chrome tanned leather trimmings, a material considered highly dangerous by ABNT, the Brazilian Association for Technical Standards.

This serious problem began to be addressed last month in the Tres Coroas District, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. A model solid waste management system implemented by all the local shoe factories is now in operation. The success of this model means that now this group of factories is exporting to Germany what before was simply considered to be waste. By following the example of Tres Coroas, it has been estimated that the Brazilian shoe industry could recover 32,400 of raw materials for recycling.

The new system, which has an operational license issued by FEPAM (State Foundation for Environmental Protection) has so far used funds from the District Council in its initial phase, R$1,5 million ($555,000) from the industry, R$600 thousand ($222,000) to set up a computerised Triage Central Bureau and a Hazardous Industrial Waste Landfill and R$900 thousand ($333,000) in maintenance.

The waste leaves the companies already sorted out, packed and identified via bar code which classifies it as per type, hazardousness degree, weight, date and origin. Contract suppliers deliver their waste together with the goods produced. Non-recyclable waste is sent to the specially created landfill where it is stored in four different ditches according to the type of waste and protected from the rain. There it will wait for the time when science and technology make its use possible as raw material. The landfill area has nine wells and a lake used to monitor the quality of underground and surface waters.

The volume of waste recycled grows each year. In 1997, just three types of waste found buyers. This year ten types are being sold. German company Henkel Dorus GMBHECO KG, has already bought 48 tons of recyclable waste from the project. Recyclable waste is sold only to companies registered with FEPAM.