Minas Gerais gains a reception station for empty agricultural pesticide packaging

A new post for receiving empty packaging of agricultural pesticides from the Campo Limpo System, a reverse logistics program that brings together manufacturers, distributors, farmers and public authorities, was opened in CEASAMINAS – Contagem (MG).

The ceremony, held on 08/06, was attended by the Secretary of Agriculture of Minas Gerais, Thales Almeida Pereira Fernandes; the president of ARDAVPR, Jaeder Santana Soares; the president of CEASAMINAS - Centrais de Abastecimento de Minas Gerais S.A. - Luciano José de Oliveira; the president of APHCEMG - Association of Fruit and Vegetable Producers of CEASAS of the State of Minas, Ladislau Jeronimo de Melo and the operations manager of inpEV, National Institute of Packaging Processing, Antonio Carlos Amaral.

Managed by ARDAVPR - Association of Agricultural Pesticides Resellers of Vale Paraopeba and Region, the unit has 100 m2 of built area and can receive more than 4 tons/month of material, which will be sent for processing at the São Joaquim de Bicas plant (MG ).

Due to its strategic location, in CEASAMINAS, the station will optimize the time of producers in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, made up of 34 municipalities. The new unit will allow farmers to return empty pesticide packaging to the same place where their agricultural production is delivered, saving time and fuel. “Before the inauguration, producers would travel up to 100 km to leave their products at CEASA, return the packaging to the São Joaquim de Bicas center and return to the property, depending on its location. This could take up to 3 hours of your working day”, explains the president of ARDAVPR, Jaeder Santana Soares.

The station, which will come into operation as soon as the licenses are issued, will function as an extension of the São Joaquim de Bicas Center, being responsible for receiving and sorting by type of material (plastic), size and color. After being separated, the packages are ready to be processed at the Center, where they are placed directly in the press. “With the first stage being carried out at the station, the Central team will be able to dedicate themselves to other activities, increasing their productivity”, highlights Antonio Carlos Amaral, operations manager at InpEV, the managing entity of the Campo Limpo System.

According to Amaral, the inauguration will further expand the packaging receiving network in Minas Gerais, reaching 9 units in strategic regions of the state. “Minas Gerais accounts for 7% of the total packaging correctly disposed of in Brazil, which in 2021 was around 53,5 thousand tons”.

The implementation of the reception station follows the rules of Law No. 9.974/00, which regulated the reverse logistics of empty agricultural pesticide packaging and established shared responsibilities between industry, distribution channels, farmers and public authorities.

According to the law, it is up to the marketing sector to indicate to the farmer, on the sales invoice, the location where empty packaging must be returned. The law also establishes that the manufacturing industry must be responsible for reverse logistics and environmentally correct final disposal, which happens through inpEV.

CEASAMINAS reception point - Address: Rodovia BR 040 – KM 688 – Contagem (MG)