Integration of informal recycling sector in Brazil and the case of Sorocaba City

Abstract

Catadores are people who collect and sell materials that can be recycled. This activity has been done informally in many countries for years. Recently, a recognition process has begun for the informal recycling sector, with public and private initiatives. In Brazil, catadores started out associating with each other in co-operatives in the 1980s. In 2010, the Solid Waste National Policy was approved, promoting the inclusion of theses co-operatives in the formal waste management system. However, only in 25 out of 5670 Brazilian municipalities have hired co-operatives as Private Service Providers. The integration of the informal sector has contributed with social, economic and environmental benefits; income generation, reduction of poverty and resource preservation are highlights. Although there was a legal progress, there are great challenges for various actors involved. This paper aims to diagnose the informal recycling sector, emphasizing the integration process that has happened in Brazil. For this, a substantial literature review and a case study were conducted, applying the tool 'InteRa' to the case of Sorocaba. The case showed that it is possible to improve the integration of catadores in the formal waste management system. The co-operatives achieve recycling rates of 2%, higher than the official national rate of 1%. However, we estimate that autonomous pickers increase total recycling in Sorocaba to 9%, still short of the 25% target via source segregation. Therefore, continuing the integration process will benefit both the pickers, and also the municipality through savings on landfill costs.

Formal and informal waste selective collection in developing megacities: Analysis of residents’ involvement in Bolivia

“…The IS can be considered an ally of the formal SCS, since a relevant part of the population deliver the waste to waste pickers and recycling shops, re-directing the streams inflow into the sanitary landfill, and reducing the MSW management costs (Ferronato et al, 2020b). This is common in Latin America: in Santiago de Chile informal collectors transport the waste to an intermediate collector and, at national level, they contribute to about 86% of the total waste that is recycled (Rojas et al, 2018); and in Sorocaba, Brazil, autonomous pickers increase the recycling rate of the city to 9% (Silva de Souza Lima and Mancini, 2017). Therefore, the involvement of waste pickers represents a good option for improving sustainability in recycling activities in Latin American megacities.…”

Integrated Municipal and Solid Waste Management in the amazon: addressing barriers and challenges in using the Delphi Method

“…the composting of organic solid waste (88%) and the recycling of dry solid waste (86%) were the MSW treatment alternatives recommended by the experts, followed by the disposal in the landfill (83%), as recommended by other Brazilian authors [23], [24]. Composting of organic matter was considered the most suitable technology for the treatment of solid waste in Mumbai, india, according to the opinion of a panel of experts, applying the delphi method [15].…”

El empleo en un futuro de cero emisiones netas en América Latina y el Caribe

“…Informal waste pickers often face decent work challenges with low pay, insufficient hygiene, poor safety conditions (Dias, 2016;Zolnikov et al, 2018), and a lack of social security (Borges et al, 2019). The integration of the informal recycling sector into the formal waste management system contributes to social, economic, and environmental benefits (Dias, 2016;Silva de Souza Lima and Mancini, 2017). In Latin America and the Caribbean, forming cooperatives among informal waste pickers has been shown to enhance social inclusion and economic activity in Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia (Box 4.7), and more recently in other countries including Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, and Venezuela (Hettiarachchi et al, 2018).…”