THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, I hereby make known that the National Congress decrees and I sanction the following Law:
Title I General Provisions
Chapter I Object and Scope of Application
Art. 1º
This Law establishes the National Solid Waste Policy, providing for its principles, objectives and instruments, as well as the guidelines for the integrated management and handling of Solid waste, including hazardous waste, the responsibilities of generators and the public authority, and the applicable economic instruments.
§ 1º Subject to this Law are natural or legal persons, of public or private right, directly or indirectly responsible for the generation of Solid waste, and those who carry out actions related to integrated management or handling of Solid waste.
§ 2º This Law does not apply to radioactive waste, which is governed by specific legislation.
Art. 2º
The following apply to Solid waste, in addition to the provisions of this Law: Laws 11,445, of January 5, 2007, 9,974, of June 6, 2000, and 9,966, of April 28, 2000, and the standards established by the agencies of the National Environment System (Sisnama), the National Sanitary Surveillance System (SNVS), the Unified System for Agricultural Health Care (Suasa) and the National System of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (Sinmetro).
Chapter II Definitions
Art. 3º
For purposes of this Law, the following definitions apply:
- sectoral agreement: contractual instrument signed between the public authority and manufacturers, importers, distributors or merchants, with a view to the implementation of shared responsibility for the product life cycle;
- contaminated area: site where contamination has occurred from the regular or irregular disposal of any substances or waste;
- orphan contaminated area: contaminated area whose parties responsible for disposal are not identifiable or individualizable;
- product life cycle: series of stages involving product development, raw material and input acquisition, production process, consumption and final disposal;
- selective collection: collection of Solid waste previously segregated according to its constitution or composition;
- social oversight: a set of mechanisms and procedures that guarantee society information and participation in processes of formulation, implementation and evaluation of public policies related to Solid waste;
- environmentally appropriate destination: destination of waste that includes reuse, recycling, composting, recovery and energy recovery or other destinations admitted by the competent agencies of Sisnama, SNVS and Suasa, including final disposal, observing specific operational standards to avoid damage or risks to public health and safety and to minimize adverse environmental impacts;
- environmentally appropriate final disposal: orderly distribution of tailings in landfills, observing specific operational standards to avoid damage or risks to public health and safety and to minimize adverse environmental impacts;
- generators of Solid waste: natural or legal persons, of public or private right, who generate Solid waste through their activities, including consumption;
- Solid waste handling: set of actions carried out, directly or indirectly, in the stages of collection, transport, transshipment, treatment and environmentally appropriate final destination of Solid waste and environmentally appropriate final disposal of tailings, in accordance with the municipal integrated Solid waste management plan or the Solid waste handling plan required by this Law;
- integrated Solid waste management: set of actions aimed at seeking solutions for Solid waste, considering the political, economic, environmental, cultural and social dimensions, with social oversight and under the premise of sustainable development;
- Reverse logistics: instrument of economic and social development characterized by a set of actions, procedures and means intended to enable the collection and return of Solid waste to the business sector, for reuse, in its cycle or in other productive cycles, or other environmentally appropriate final destination;
- sustainable production and consumption patterns: production and consumption of goods and services in a way that meets the needs of current generations and allows for better living conditions, without compromising environmental quality and meeting the needs of future generations;
- recycling: process of transformation of Solid waste involving the alteration of its physical, physical-chemical or biological properties, with a view to transformation into inputs or new products, observing the conditions and standards established by the competent agencies of Sisnama and, where applicable, SNVS and Suasa;
- tailings: Solid waste that, after all possibilities of treatment and recovery through available and economically viable technological processes have been exhausted, present no possibility other than environmentally appropriate final disposal;
- Solid waste: material, substance, object or asset discarded resulting from human activities in society, for which final destination is to be undertaken, is proposed or is required to be undertaken, in solid or semi-solid states, as well as gases contained in containers and liquids whose particularities render their discharge into the public sewage network or into bodies of water unfeasible, or that require for this purpose technically or economically unfeasible solutions in light of the best available technology;
- shared responsibility for the product life cycle: set of individualized and chained attributions of manufacturers, importers, distributors and merchants, consumers and holders of urban cleaning and Solid waste management public services, to minimize the volume of Solid waste and tailings generated, as well as to reduce the impacts caused to human health and environmental quality arising from the product life cycle, pursuant to this Law;
- Reverse logistics, end-of-pipe collection or doorstep collection, urban Solid waste, special Solid waste, hazardous Solid waste, integrated solid waste handling, urban Solid waste handling, and similar terms shall be defined in regulation, with the technical and operational refinements established by the competent agencies of Sisnama, SNVS and Suasa. (Summarized; see Planalto for full enumeration.)
Title II National Solid Waste Policy
Chapter I Principles and Objectives
Art. 6º
The following are principles of the National Solid Waste Policy:
- prevention and precaution;
- polluter pays and protector receives;
- systemic view in management, considering environmental, social, cultural, economic, technological and public health variables;
- sustainable development;
- ecoefficiency, by reconciling the supply, at competitive prices, of qualified goods and services that satisfy human needs and bring quality of life, with the progressive reduction of environmental impact and consumption of natural resources, to a level at least compatible with the planet's estimated carrying capacity;
- cooperation among the different spheres of public authority, the business sector and other segments of society;
- shared responsibility for the product life cycle;
- recognition of reusable and recyclable Solid waste as an economic good of social value, a generator of work and income and a promoter of citizenship;
- respect for local and regional diversities;
- the right of society to information and social oversight;
- reasonableness and proportionality.
Art. 7º
The objectives of the National Solid Waste Policy are, among others: environmental, social and economic protection of public health; sustainable development; the encouragement of sustainable production and consumption patterns; the adoption of clean technologies; the reduction of generation; the development of recycling and reuse; the integrated management of Solid waste; the articulation of federative entities; the participation in waste management of recyclable material pickers; the encouragement to implement the life cycle assessment of the product; the encouragement to develop environmental management systems and certification.
Chapter II Instruments
Art. 8º
The instruments of the National Solid Waste Policy are, among others: the Solid waste plans; the inventories and information system regarding waste; the selective collection, the Reverse logistics systems and other tools related to the implementation of shared responsibility for the product life cycle; the encouragement to create and develop cooperatives or other associative forms of pickers of reusable and recyclable materials; environmental monitoring and follow-up; cooperation among federative entities; the National Environmental Information System (Sinima), the National Information System on Solid Waste (Sinir), the National Environmental Information System on Sanitation (Sinisa) and the National Climate Change System (Sinmuc); environmental education; economic, financial and tax instruments; technical and financial cooperation between the public and private sectors for the development of research on new products, methods, processes and technologies; environmental accounting, sanitary regulations and standards; standardization conditions and standards relating to environmental and operational management of Solid waste; the National Environmental Fund and the Climate Fund.
Title III Guidelines Applicable to Solid Waste
Chapter I Preliminary Provisions
Art. 9º
In the management and handling of Solid waste, the following order of priority shall be observed: non-generation, reduction, reuse, recycling, treatment of Solid waste and environmentally appropriate final disposal of tailings.
§ 1º Energy recovery from urban Solid waste may be used, provided their technical and environmental viability has been demonstrated and with the implementation of a program for monitoring the emission of toxic gases approved by the environmental agency.
§ 2º Public Solid waste management policies shall observe the order of priority established in the caput.
Art. 10
It is incumbent on the Federal District and the Municipalities to manage the urban Solid waste, in accordance with this Law and other federal, state and district laws, without prejudice to the competences of supervision and supervision of the agencies of Sisnama and SNVS, as well as the assignment of responsibility, in whole or in part, to generators of waste of public health services and special Solid waste.
Chapter II Solid Waste Plans
Art. 14
The Solid waste plans are:
- the National Solid Waste Plan;
- state Solid waste plans and Solid waste plans for metropolitan regions or urban agglomerations subject to integrated planning;
- microregional Solid waste plans and Solid waste plans for metropolitan regions or urban agglomerations;
- intermunicipal Solid waste plans;
- municipal Solid waste integrated management plans;
- Solid waste handling plans.
Art. 15
The Federal Government shall draw up, under the coordination of the Ministry of the Environment, the National Solid Waste Plan, with a 20-year horizon, to be updated every 4 years, with the following minimum content: diagnosis of the current situation; proposal of macro-goals and indicators; strategies, guidelines and goals; means to be used for cooperation among federative entities and private initiative; identified financing sources for implementation and continuity of actions.
Art. 17
The state Solid waste plan shall have an indeterminate horizon and shall include a 20-year planning period, to be updated every 4 years; it shall contain a diagnosis, identification of areas favorable for environmentally adequate disposal of tailings, recovery zones for areas degraded by inadequate disposal, goals for elimination and recovery of dumps, goals for selective collection and recycling, programs and actions to support the formal organization of pickers, deadlines for environmental adequacy of operations, and indicators for monitoring and verifying implementation.
Art. 18
The drawing up of a Municipal Plan for Integrated Solid Waste Management, pursuant to this Law, is a condition for the Federal District and the Municipalities to have access to federal resources, or those controlled or operated by federal agencies or entities, when intended for projects, services or actions related to public urban cleaning and Solid waste handling, or to receive incentives or fiscal financing for this purpose.
§ 1º Municipalities will be granted priority access to federal resources referred to in the caput when:
- they opt for intermunicipal Solid waste management solutions; and
- they implement the selective collection with the participation of cooperatives or other associative forms of low-income workers formed by recyclable materials pickers.
Art. 19
The Municipal Plan for Integrated Solid Waste Management shall have minimum content covering: diagnosis of the situation; identification of areas favorable for environmentally appropriate disposal of tailings; identification of possibilities for inter-municipal consortia; identification of waste and generators subject to Solid waste handling plan or Reverse logistics system; procedures for urban cleaning and Solid waste handling; rules and goals for the elimination and recovery of dumps; programs and actions for environmental education and selective collection; programs and actions for the participation of recyclable materials pickers; mechanisms for charging public services; quantitative and qualitative goals for solid urban waste; descriptions of the form of remuneration of urban cleaning services; control and inspection systems.
Art. 20
Subject to the preparation of a Solid waste handling plan, with no prejudice to other requirements of the competent agencies of Sisnama, SNVS and Suasa: generators of waste in public health services and Industrial waste; generators of construction waste; mining waste generators; ports, airports, road and railway terminals and border posts; agrosilvopastoral activities; commercial and service activities that, by their characteristics, generate waste considered hazardous; and industries, including industrial complexes.
Chapter III Responsibilities of Generators and the Public Authority
Art. 25
The Public Authority, the business sector and the community are responsible for the effectiveness of the actions aimed at ensuring compliance with the National Solid Waste Policy and the guidelines and other determinations established in this Law and in its implementing regulation.
Art. 30
Shared responsibility for the product life cycle is established, to be implemented individually and chained, on the part of manufacturers, importers, distributors and merchants, consumers and holders of urban cleaning and Solid waste handling public services, with the following objectives, among others: stimulate the use of inputs of less aggressiveness to the environment and of greater sustainability; promote the use of secondary inputs from reusable and recyclable materials; reduce the generation of Solid waste, waste of materials, environmental pollution and damage to public health; encourage the use, reuse and recycling of Solid waste in the same productive chain that originated it; promote the use of Solid waste; promote the labeling of products with information about their environmental impacts.
Art. 33
Manufacturers, importers, distributors and merchants of pesticides and their packaging; batteries; tires; lubricating oils and their packaging; fluorescent, mercury vapor and sodium vapor lamps and mixed light; and electronic products and their components are required to structure and implement Reverse logistics systems, by returning the products after consumer use, independent of the public urban cleaning and Solid waste handling service.
§ 1º Reverse logistics shall be extended to products marketed in plastic, metal or glass packaging, and to other products and packaging, considering, on a priority basis, the scale of the product and the degree and extent of impact on human health and the environment of the waste generated.
Chapter V Hazardous Solid Waste
Art. 37
The installation and operation of an enterprise or activity that generates or operates hazardous Solid waste shall only be permitted upon obtaining a license from the relevant agency of Sisnama, without prejudice to other licenses required by the legislation in force.
Art. 38
Natural or legal persons that operate, on a professional basis, activities of collection, transport, transshipment, reception, storage, transfer, treatment or destination of hazardous Solid waste, as well as the generators referred to in Art. 20, are required to register at the National Cadaster of Operators of Hazardous Solid Waste.
Art. 39
Generators and operators of hazardous Solid waste shall comply with the technical standards regarding hazardous Solid waste and shall be subject to environmental licensing and inspection.
Chapter VI Applicable Economic Instruments
Art. 42
The Public Authority may institute tax, financial and credit measures, with a view to encouraging actions consistent with the National Solid Waste Policy, including: prevention and reduction of the generation of Solid waste in the productive process; development of products with lower environmental impact; implementation of physical infrastructure and acquisition of equipment for cooperatives or other associative forms of recyclable materials pickers; development of cleaner production projects, environmental management systems, certification environmental and labeling of products; development of research aimed at the recovery of waste or environmentally appropriate destination of tailings; and adoption of forms of consumption compatible with the rational use of natural resources.
Art. 44
The Federal Government, the States, the Federal District and the Municipalities, within the scope of their respective competences, may institute economic measures aimed at: granting incentives to the industry of recycled goods; granting incentives to the development of clean technologies, eco-design and life cycle analysis of products; and stimulating selective collection.
Chapter VII Prohibitions
Art. 47
The disposal of Solid waste or tailings in the following forms is prohibited:
- at the open sky or in water bodies;
- throwing into the sea, except in cases admitted by federal legislation and the International Maritime Organization;
- burning in the open or in installations and equipment not licensed for this purpose;
- other forms prohibited by the competent agencies of Sisnama, SNVS and Suasa.
Art. 48
The disposal areas of Solid waste or tailings are subject to the following prohibitions:
- use of waste as feed;
- fixing of permanent residences;
- scavenging activity;
- other forms prohibited by the competent agencies of Sisnama, SNVS and Suasa.
Art. 49
The import of Solid waste hazardous and tailings is prohibited, as well as the non-hazardous Solid waste for final disposal or energy recovery via incineration. (Wording given by Law 15,088, of 2025)
Title IV Final and Transitional Provisions
Art. 54
The environmentally appropriate final disposal of tailings, as provided in Art. 9º, must be implemented within 4 years from the date of publication of this Law (with extensions granted by Laws 14,026 of 2020 and subsequent amendments, conditioned on the existence of a Municipal Plan and the implementation of the Reverse logistics systems).
Art. 55
The provisions of Arts. 16 and 18 enter into force two years after the date of publication of this Law.
Art. 56
The implementing regulation of this Law shall include rules concerning Reverse logistics, sectoral agreements, sustainable public procurement and the National Information System on Solid Waste (Sinir).
Art. 57
This Law enters into force on the date of its publication.
Brasília, August 2, 2010; 189th of Independence and 122nd of the Republic.
LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA
Rafael Thomaz Favetti
Guido Mantega
José Gomes Temporão
Miguel Jorge
Izabella Mônica Vieira Teixeira
João Reis Santana Filho
Marcio Fortes de Almeida
Alexandre Rocha Santos Padilha
This text does not replace the one published in the Official Federal Gazette of August 3, 2010.
