Diagnosis and Difficulties in Waste Management in a Large Brazilian City, Focusing on Selective Collection

This work evaluated the main difficulties for the implementation and maintenance of selective collection in a large Brazilian city with more than 1 million inhabitants. For that, the qualitative method was used through interviews with 18 professionals who work in the area of selective collection and waste management. The interviews were recorded and the data submitted to content analysis. The results pointed to the following difficulties: lack of government management, low efficiency and limited coverage; poor separation of waste at source; distortions in the logistics chain of selective collection and in the distribution of waste by cooperatives; high informality, precarious work and low remuneration of collectors; the presence of intermediaries and corruption in the system; and idle capacity of cooperatives and public agencies.