Economic and financial analysis of the management of organic solid waste from a small-scale agro-processing industry

Abstract

Agro-industrial activities generate large quantities of organic solid waste. For this reason, they are responsible for establishing goals and strategies for the management of their waste, aiming at reuse, recycling, and treatment whenever possible. This work presents a case study was carried out to evaluate the economic and financial viability of different scenarios for the management of agro-industry residues generated by the minimum processing of vegetables, located in Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The scenarios that evaluated the costs of disposal of organic solid waste in landfills were high. On the other hand, in the scenario that considered the treatment of organic solid wastes, through the composting technique, it was observed that it was financially feasible and attractive for investment, since it presented a profitability of 19.28% per year, which is higher than different options available in the market. With the treatment of organic solid waste and the commercialization of the compound produced, the generation of revenue for the agroindustry and the environmentally correct destination of this waste are promoted, since it not only reduces the environmental impacts and the volume of waste generated, but also allows the reinsertion of nutrients into the productive cycle of new crops, generating income for the agroindustry. For the treatment of waste, an initial investment of R$ 385,388.09 is necessary, where it was estimated that the time required to recover financial capital was in the short term, with four years and ten months.