Um olhar sobre os resíduos sólidos não comercializados: um estudo comparativo entre organizações de catadores

Abstract

The scarcity of natural resources coupled with environmental problems related to the inappropriate disposal of solid urban waste has been a major challenge in our society. Recycling is one of the alternatives to minimize these problems, however, the complexity of the generated materials has hampered this process. Waste pickers' associations are great allies in the sale of recyclables, but depend on the buying market. This qualitative research is characterized as a descriptive and comparative study. It aims to carry out a comparative study between the Recicla Pampa Association and the Cooperativa Pelotense de Prestação de Serviços e Ação Social (COOPEL), with a view to investigating the possibilities of commercialization of solid waste not used by the association of waste pickers. In the theoretical framework, issues related to Urban Solid Waste (MSW) are addressed, such as concepts, legislation and the current reality of disposal and the recycling market. After conducting a data survey to quantify and characterize the waste that Recicla Pampa does not sell, a structured questionnaire was applied to the Pelotas cooperative, seeking a comparison between the two waste picker organizations. The results revealed that COOPEL manages to sell 42.1% of the waste that Recicla Pampa discards in regular collection. Some factors were identified that may be related to the non-commercialization of this fraction of waste at Recicla Pampa: difficulty in identifying materials, especially plastics; little interest in collecting glass for sale, besides the registration of few companies that buy waste. Often, the commercialization or not of some residues varies according to the contracted purchasing company, which is usually an intermediate company between collector and recycling industry. In addition, it was found that some waste is not attractive for the selective collection carried out by the collectors, for several reasons,the main ones being: not being economically viable and not finding a buying market.