This week, ABREN (Brazilian Association for Energy Recovery of Waste) assumed the representation of the Global WtERT Council in Brazil. The new president is Yuri Schmitke, a young lawyer with deep knowledge of the Brazilian energy sector. In 2019, he created the Brazilian association with the objective of promoting the concept of Waste to Energy in Brazil. And since then, the topic has been highlighted in the discussion forums on energy and waste in that country, showing the proactive and realizing profile of the new GWC representative in Brazil.
Yuri Schmitke Almeida Belchior Tisi is a lawyer with a Master’s Degree in Law, Public Policy and Economic Development. He is a member of the Brazilian Institute of Energy Law Studies (IBDE), of the Brazilian Society of Energy Planning (SBPE) and a member of the Environmental Law and Sustainability Commission of the Brazilian Bar Association. Author of the book “Waste to Energy”. (LINCAR Ebook: http://digitalizabrasil.com.br/e-books/waste-energy).
The vice president of WtERT Brasil is the entrepreneur, PhD Daniel Sindicic who owns a project in the final stage of development for the construction of one of the ten largest WtE plants in the world, located in the state of São Paulo. The first secretary will be Rubens Aebi, with studies and experience in Switzerland and Germany. The second secretary, the consultant Flavio Matos, has been working at the French CNIN for more than five years.
Yuri Schmitke replaces Sergio Guerreiro, who has done a recognized job in the last ten years at the helm of WtERT Brasil.
Good Prospects for the Expansion
Nickolas J. Themelis, president of the Global WtERT Council, believes that with the new direction, Brazil will have “good prospects for the expansion of WTE technology in Brazil”. Themelis recognizes ABREN’s positive performance as a Brazilian entity that promotes waste to energy recovery technologies and says he is satisfied with the progress of the theme in the country, promoted by Yuri and his team.
According to Schmitke, “WtERT Brasil’s main objective will be to promote the adoption of heat treatment for the unusable portion of waste, considering that it is the best way for the environmental disposal of waste, including from an economic and clean energy generation perspective. In addition to publicizing the topic every possible media and communication platforms, we are creating the institutional conditions to speed the development of the market for WTE plants in Brazil, ”said Yuri Scmitke.
Brazil does not yet have a Waste to Energy plant in operation. The country has some gasification, biodigestion and other smaller pyrolysis and biomass projects. The field of action of the WTE sector is as large as the Brazilian population with 210 million habitants and the generation of solid urban waste around 79 million tons, which means about 215’000 tons / day.
ABREN: a year of creation
The Brazilian Association of Waste Energy Recovery (ABREN) – now ABREN WtERT Brasil – was created on May 5, 2019, with the aim of promoting Waste-to-Energy (WTE) technologies, or waste energy recovery in Brazil, as well as mechanized recycling and reverse logistics. Through the WTE plants, it is expected to simultaneously solve two major current problems in Brazil: the destination of solid waste and the generation of clean energy.
ABREN (Brazilian Association for Energy Recovery of Waste) has an Academic Group that counts with more than 50 professors and researchers in Sustainability, Waste and Energy spread throughout Brazil.
In one year of operation, ABREN already has 16 partners/sponsors and seven strategic partners. The Brazilian Association has already promoted 40 meetings with public institutions, 42 meetings with private companies, participated in 24 events (10 as speakers), eight meetings with embassies, seven meetings with national parliamentarians, seven meetings with industry associations, nine meetings with international entities, and six events and panels were organized. Last month, during the pandemic period related to COVID 19, ABREN met two ministers of state to defend the WTE market in Brazil.
