Effect of Improving Environmental Sustainability in Developing Countries by Upgrading Solid Waste Management Techniques: A Case Study

The present research has focused on a contribution to the improvement of solid waste management in a waste collectors’ cooperative located in Brazil (Marcos Moura district, Santa Rita, Paraiba State) through a technical and organizational up-grading. Collection, processing and final disposal of wastes still represent a problem in some regions of Brazil. The proposed strategy foresaw the analysis of the local situation, the evaluation of the cooperative efficiency rate and then the introduction of technical and operational improvements to the service. Besides the technical activity, a social inclusion program was developed in order to include local scavengers (called Catadores) and to improve the social and economic conditions of populations involved in the process. The project also increased their environmental awareness. The workgroup is still monitoring the obtained results in order to check for the achievement of foreseen targets, to plan further improvements and to replicate this experience in other Brazilian areas.