GESTÃO AMBIENTAL NA INDÚSTRIA AUTOMOBILÍSTICA: O CASO DA RECICLAGEM DE MATERIAIS

This contribution is based on a one year research on automotive materials
recycling that are connected to a research program on Environmental Technologies and
Recycling at CETEM -Center for Mineral Technology–.
This article shows the environmental strategy as a core business for automotive
industry on behalf of which car companies are designing new models seeking for cleaner
plants and “greener cars”to keep sustainability and competitiveness. It also discusses if the
sustainability of this industry can be acheived or not by enforcing recyclibility of automotive
materiails. The organization of the article is as follows: an introductory overview of the
automobile industry and the global environmental concerns; a brief view of the design for
recycling strategy and the environmental management in car companies in Brazil; some
technical aspects of materials recycling are highlighted and complemented by the some
remarks on perspectives and contraints for the two most important automotive materials:
steel and plastics. Finally some concluding remarks are presented.