Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany.
Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Waste Manag. 2021 Feb 15;121:215-225. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2020.12.006. Epub 2020 Dec 28.
Waste pickers (WPs) are considered a strong suggestion to become practical mediators of the circular economy (CE) in emerging economies. This new recommendation intends to strengthen WPs' role in household solid waste management while supporting the establishment of CE. Municipalities often do not recognize WPs as service providers and frequently discriminate against them. In such a challenging situation, could a socio-integrated recycling system with integrated WPs be a robust strategy to boost a CE? Belo Horizonte is a learning platform to answer this research question because this Brazilian city has a long-term commitment to social integration. The work applies the combination of participatory observation, multi-year material flow analysis (MFA), and structural agent analysis (SAA) to identify allocative resources, legitimation, and cultural values that are fundamental to operationalizing CE. The MFA results show a significant increase in waste generation, but not more than 4% of recyclable waste generated could be collected as input for WP cooperatives. The number of WPs registered in cooperatives, the market price of recyclables, and regulatory legislation for packaging products are classified as barriers for the successful extension of a socio-integrated recycling system identified in the SAA. This study suggests that knowing the target group (e.g., city hall and industries) brings opportunities for WPs to disclose niches (based on a small network of agents with expectations and visions) and can potentially create socio-technical regimes to implement a conscious and sustainable CE.
拾荒者（WPs）被认为是新兴经济体实现循环经济（CE）的有力建议。这一新建议旨在加强 WP 在家庭固体废物管理中的作用，同时支持建立 CE。市政当局通常不承认 WP 是服务提供商，并经常歧视他们。在这种具有挑战性的情况下，具有整合 WP 的社会综合回收系统是否可以成为促进 CE 的强大策略？贝洛奥里藏特是一个学习平台，可以回答这个研究问题，因为这座巴西城市长期致力于社会融合。该工作应用了参与式观察、多年物质流分析 (MFA) 和结构代理分析 (SAA) 的组合，以确定对 CE 运作至关重要的分配资源、合法化和文化价值观。MFA 的结果表明垃圾产生量显著增加，但 WP 合作社可收集的可回收废物不到产生量的 4%。在 SAA 中确定了社会综合回收系统成功扩展的障碍，包括在合作社注册的 WP 数量、可回收物的市场价格以及包装产品的监管立法。本研究表明，了解目标群体（例如市政厅和工业界）为 WP 提供了机会，使其能够发现利基市场（基于具有期望和愿景的一小部分代理网络），并有可能创建社会技术制度来实施有意识和可持续的 CE。
