COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PENETRATION RATE OF WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN SMALL AND MEDIAM SIZE COMPANIES BETWEEN EUROPE, PORTUGAL AND BRAZIL

Increasing awareness of environmental damage caused by human activities, and the seriousness of its feed-back effects, calls for action of the whole society. The main objective of the paper is to characterize and identify differences in solid waste management practices in Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE) between 6 countries: Germany, Belgium, Austria, The Netherlands, Portugal and Brazil. For this purpose a questionnaire was formulated and a comparative analysis of Portugal vs Brazil and other European countries is performed. Results suggest that the application of Environmental management actions and circularity is still in its infancy in all three groups. Moreover, there are significant country differences, even when controlling for the size of the firm. In addition, it is highlighted the importance of developing nonmonetary incentives to ease the adoption of circularity and waste environmental management practices. Particular attention should be dedicated to water use, as it appears to be ignored by firms, independent of size and country.