Consumers, Waste
Pickers and Recycling
in Brazil… On the Cusp
of Change?
Kim Beecheno,
Brazil Institute, King’s College London
Kim.beecheno@kcl.ac.uk
Purpose of the Study
 To show how recycling is organised in
Brazil
 To highlight that the situation in Brazil
contrasts quite starkly with how recycling
is organised in Sweden & England
 Desk research: variety of sources, e.g.
gov websites & official docs, NGO
websites & publications, policy analysis
from experts on waste, recycling and
environmental issues
Brazil’s Growing Waste
Problem

Solid waste increased by 1.8% in
2011(double the population growth
of 0.9%) to approximately 62
million tonnes in 2011

Household waste is the
responsibility of the municipality
and collection covers 95% of the
country (not including ‘favelas’
reducing coverage to around 89%)

Illegal dumping of household waste
and fly-tipping along roadsides and
riverbanks is common

51% of waste goes to open-air
dumps (currently 2,906 dumps in
total)

28% goes to engineered landfill

21% goes to sanitary landfill
Basic Sanitations
Problems

33 municipalities across Brazil
still do not have running water

There is no collective sewage
network in 2,495 municipalities
throughout Brazil (out of 5,565)

Most common solution is the use
of septic tanks

3,995 of Brazil's municipalities,
(72%) of all municipalities did not
have a basic sanitation policy in
place towards the end of 2012,
despite it being a legal obligation
by 2010, after the creation of the
National Basic Sanitation Law in
2007
Recycling

Consumer consciousness around recycling is low in Brazil.

BUT recycling is not new in Brazil: between 2003 and 2008, recycling rose from 5
million tons to 7.1 million tons, the equivalent of 13 % of urban waste (Ciclosoft,
2012)

Brazil is world leader in the recycling of aluminium cans (98.3 %) and second only
to Japan for the recycling of PET plastic (PNSB, 2008).

Government statistics: Recycling Sector generates about US$5.5 billion per year
but loses around US$3.6 billion annually by not recycling waste which is sent to
controlled landfills or open-air dumps (BrasilGov, 2013).

32% of municipalities have some form of segregated waste collection scheme,
generally kerbside commingled segregated collection or voluntary bring banks.
Mainly in South

Focus on recycling is built around the concept of economic gain for the country,
rather than around the environmental discourse which is secondary

89% of the industrial production circuit for reused raw material is separated and
sorted by waste pickers, 11% by industries
Waste Pickers
Social Movements
 Creation of cooperatives across the country from 1990s, e.g.
COOPEMARE in São Paulo, ASMARE in Belo Horizonte – highly
organised network of cooperatives across the country
 Work with some municipalities performing segregated waste collection,
storing/warehousing and pressing of recyclables
 National Movement for Collectors of Recyclables (MNCR) campaigns
for waste picker rights since 2001
Waste Picker Statistics
 Waste pickers now have semi-formal status –
included in CBO classification of jobs
 Waste pickers categorised by collection
activities: e.g. scrap picker, scrap iron picker,
paper/cardboard picker, scrap packager and
scrap sorter.
 3 types of waste picker now identified in Brazil:
A) Unorganised or autonomous waste pickers
B) Organised waste pickers
C) Contracted waste pickers
Statistics Continued…
 Who are they?
 67% men, 33% women,10% children aged 10 to 16 (Wiego, 2011)
 Low literacy rates
 14% of men and 6% of women attended school
 Gender differences
 4.5% (just under 12,000) have a formal contract, (80% men, 20 %
women)
 56% of waste pickers in cooperatives or associations are women,
compared to 44% men
 Earnings
 Average salaries generally below one minimum wage US$190235 (R$420-520) per month.
 Men earn more than women across all age groups
Table 4: Price of Recyclable Materials across Brazilian States, August 2013
(prices in tons and in Brazilian Real)
Cardboar
d
White
Paper
Steel
cans
120
200
200
Colourles
s
Coloured
Aluminiu
Glass
Glass
m
Rigid
Plastic
PET
Plastic
Film
Long
Life
-
700
700
800
150
-
500P/C
1300P/C
500P/C
170P/C
-
850P/C
1300P/C
500P/C
190P/C
Ceará
Crato
2000
-
Espírito Santo
Guarapari
240P
270C
180C
2500P/C
Goiânia
200P/C
270C
210
2350C
-
Goiás
500
Minas Gerais
Lavras
Patos de
Minas
Campo
Largo
Cruzeiro
d´Oeste
Porto
Alegre
400P
400P
230P
2400P
130
-
1300P
2050P
800P
200P
255P/C
250P/C
230C
2350C
903C
-
400P/C
786P/C
550P/C
-
Paraná
280P/C
420P/C
220
2500C
-
-
1000C
1350P/C
450P/C
200P/C
270P/C
100L
-
2400C
-
-
700P/C
1300P/C
1000P/C
100P/C
-
300C
1400P/C
100P/C
90P/C
Rio Grande do Sul
320P/C
440P/C
160P/C
2600P/C
40C
São Paulo
Araçatuba
Guarujá
230P/C
250P/C
280P/C
250L
250C
300C
2100P/C
2000C
40C
150C
-
900P/C
850P/C
1450P/C
1700P/C
1000P/C
150P/C
200P/C
Guarulhos
São José
dos
Campos
400P/C
530
420C
2600C
90C
-
1000/C
1750P/C
1800
370P/C
350P
170P
-
2360P/C
150
-
1410P
1900P
480P
250P
P = pressed - C = clean - W = whole - S = shards - UN = units
Source: Cempre, 2013
Problems and
Challenges
 Stigma of job
 Personal Problems
 Social services of cooperatives VS economic
function
 Poor management in cooperatives
 Unfair remuneration
Policy – change on the
horizon?
 New National Solid Waste Policy, Política Nacional de Resíduos
Sólidos, (‘PNRS’), 2010. National Solid Waste Plan currently
being implemented.
 SHARED RESPONSIBILITY for the life-cycle of a product from
producers to consumers.
 REVERSE LOGISTICS, for the first time producers are
responsible for the return of their ‘waste’ products to the
production chain.
 Closure of all open-air dumps by 2014 and creation of engineered
landfills
 Obligatory for municipalities to implement household sourcesegregation schemes that include waste picker cooperatives.
Municipalities that do not, will not have access to federal funding
for waste management.
Overview
 ‘Consumption work’ is very different in Brazil compared to England
and Sweden
 Little environmental consciousness around recycling at the
moment
 Consumers currently play only a small role in the division of labour
within waste disposal and recycling – could change
 Brazil has high recycling rates for some materials but this is
dependent on market forces and informal work of waste pickers
 Recycling work is mainly carried out by waste pickers who are part
of the informal economy and it is a survival strategy although
greater formalisation and inclusion is occurring
 Implementation of new solid waste policy 2010 (PNRS) could
bring substantial change but this remains to be seen
THANK YOU!