The scope of the circular economy activities of the largest brazilian companies: an analysis of sustainability reports

The Circular Economy aims, as a final goal, that all waste from productive activities is used in the same activity or in other activities and that in the end there is no more waste and that everything can always be reused. The publicly traded companies publish in their sustainability reports the information arising from their activities that may be related to the Circular Economy. In this work were analyzed qualitatively, the sustainability reports of the five largest non-financial companies listed in Brazil Bolsa Balcao (B3), to assess whether the activities evidenced by the companies could be considered Circular Economy activities, and what would be the scope of such activities from the C -Indicator levels, if the activities listed by the companies in their reports were only a way to mitigate their own activity and if circular economy activity was encouraged for financial reasons. The results show that all the companies analyzed showed at least one activity classified as circular economy activity, although only two (2) of the five (5) companies presented the term circular economy in their reports, and in general the companies appeared to be concerned with mitigating the impacts caused by their activities, but without interest in expanding the actions related to the circular economy beyond the boundaries of their operations and often carrying out activities that represented gains for the company.