Sustainability performance evaluation of municipal selective collection systems applied to a case study

Abstract

Despite the existence of several waste recycling initiatives in Brazil, the national average of recyclable material recovery rates still remains below 3%. In this context, it is necessary to diagnose the performance of systems to implement improvement actions, considering the particularities of each system. In this study, we describe the application of a method capable of diagnosing the effectiveness of selective collection systems by identifying a general sustainability index, calculated based on 16 performance indicators. The study focused on the city of Volta Redonda and was organized into three stages: identification of the performance evaluation method; data collection and calculation of indicators; and calculation of the sustainability index. The index value found for the city was 0.47, which represents an unfavorable level of sustainability. In this case, Volta Redonda is making insufficient investments in its selective waste collection system. The factors that contributed to this low index are: an outdated solid waste management plan, low collection coverage, low recovery rate of recyclable materials, high rejection rate, high selective collection cost, outdated cost of selective collection service, precarious occupational health and safety conditions of members of waste picker cooperatives, and lack of registration of residences for donation of recyclable materials.

Coleta seletiva em alguns municípios do estado do Pará, Brasil

“…Dessa maneira, assim como no estado do Pará e outras cidades brasileiras, a expansão da coleta seletiva e reciclagem é lenta e marcada pela informalidade dos catadores e condições precárias de trabalho, especialmente nos lixões. É importante lembrar que questões institucionais e políticas também dificultam o desenvolvimento de sistemas de CS efetivos e que garantam a inclusão socioprodutiva dos catadores (Guabiroba et al, 2023).…”

“…Portanto, estabelecer convênios entre os catadores, geradores, empresas e indústrias, incentivando a doação de resíduos recicláveis para as organizações, é uma importante estratégia para aumentar a quantidade e a qualidade dos materiais coletados. Ademais, as organizações podem atrair catadores independentes ao oferecer melhores preços e condições de compra (Da Silva Guabiroba et al, 2023).…”