Catadores de materiais recicláveis: Um estudo de caso no município de São Gabriel/RS

Abstract

Nowadays, the modern society lifestyle reproduces habits and behaviors environmentally inappropriate. The solid waste national policy is a regulatory milestone to face this grave social problem. The municipal managers biggest challenges are decreased wastes production, allied to shared responsibility and efficient management. In order to break cultural paradigms and to recognize the collectors as promoters and agents of sustainability, demand structural and nonstructural changes on the society and governmental organizations. Facing this problem, this research aimed to analyze the principal potentialities, opportunities, weakness and threats of the recyclable and reusable materials collectors which belong to Sepé Tiarajú Collectors Association on the municipality of São Gabriel/RS. In order to serve the questions of this study was done a semi-structured script, targeted to a content analyze in order to understand the analyzed reality. The results of this research demonstrate a predominance of the female gender, low education and a widespread use of individual protection equipment in between the recyclable materials collectors. The social exclusion process and the society lack of recognition of shared responsibility are one of the principles revealed weaknesses. The recyclable materials collectors associations contribute to organize, formalize and optimize the gathering actions, so this can bring more guarantees to this type of workers. The association contributes to ensuring more worthwhile conditions of work, collaborating to avoid the collector exploitation and exercise an activity in precarious conditions. Finally, the collector’s conditions are something that must be observed to include and balance social, environmental and economic on the municipal integrated plan solid waste management.