Innovation in Design Education Corinto

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InnOVAtIOn In DesIGn eDUCAtIOn

tHe LAnDFILL neAR BRAsILIA.FROM A PROBLeM tO An OPPORtUnItY FOR DeVeLOPMent

Nowadays garbage can be considered as an indicator of the habits of consumption of the society we live in. The problem is rising up all over the world, in particular in a strong growing economy such as the Brazilian one. The composition of waste shows that the citizenship does not recognize the environmental and economic problems linked to the production of goods that are generally buried.The object of the analysis is the landfill near Brasilia, next to the slum called Estrutural. Here the catadores, in independent groups, choose the recyclable wastes bare-handed and separate out the materials in order to sell them, through the cooperatives, to the recycling companies. The actors in the systems are not linked: on one hand the citizen ignores the effects of the wastes, on the other hand the catador lives in the slums and works in difficult conditions, socially excluded.It is necessary for the Brazilian institutions to understand that by changing the approach in waste management the territory can grow.

••• Catadores, landfill, separate waste collection, environmental and social resources •••

Up to this day, in industrial societies, the perception of attaining economic growth has been connected with the increasing accessibility to material goods, involving the blind use of natural resources. As a matter of fact, nowadays garbage can be considered as an indi-cator of the consumptive habits of the society we live in. Garbage reveals what and how much we are consuming. This same consumerist drives us to get rid of the goods, throw-ing them away without understanding the consequences of our actions. The message we are submitted are clear: if we consider the situation of a Brazilian citizen it is possible to notice that he is pressed to the infinite purchasing, spread by North American lifestyle1. The problem is going on all over the world, particularly in a strong rising economy such

Corinto, FedericaGraduated StudentPolitecnico di Torino, [email protected]

1 Lanzavecchia, C. (2004). Il fare ecologico. Il prodotto industriale e i suoi requisiti ambientali. Torino: Time&Mind.

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tHe sCHOOL tALKs ABOUt ItseLF

as the Brazil. The composition of wastes in Brazil shows that the citizens do not recognize the environmental and economic problems linked to the fact that production of some Bra-zilian goods are currently first buried in trash. The solution is to break down the current link given between the perception of welfare, available goods and the consumption of resources. It is clear that in order to face directly and as a whole the problem of cohabita-tion between humans and the environment, integrative strategies are needed to be shared worldwide. Everyone will need to be able to take charge of their own responsibilities that for example would include a new environmental consciousness of the environmental im-pact our own lifestyles, from citizens and institutions.The situation of the waste in a developing country such as Brazil is nearly the same as the waste situation in the poorest countries of the world. Brasilia is the young capital born about 60 years ago from Lucio Costa’s project to build an administrative capital to popu-late the centre of the country. Everything in Brasilia has been designed even the waste management system.According to the data collected by SLU2 (Serviço de Limpeza Urbana) every months 59.078 tons of wastes are collected by the company charged, 98% of which comes from mixed waste collection, 2% from separate of waste collection. The composition of waste shows that there is a huge presence of the organic compound 48%, that shows that citizen doesn’t pay attention to the consumption and production of food waste, while at the same time in the landfill unfortunate people look for food digging through wastes.

2 Diagnostico SLU, Plano Gerenciamento dos Residuos Solidos no DF, 2008.

FIG. 1: WAste COMPOsItIOn.

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The waste system is managed by the local government which is in charge of collecting, transporting, and processing waste before final disposal3. The garbage collected arrives at the processing works; organic compounds are separated from the non organic. After the reduction of the volumes, the separated waste is sent to the landfill. Because some garbage processing sites cannot handle all the mixed garbage they receive, any mixed waste the site was unable to separate is also sent to the landfill to be buried. At the landfill there are about 3.160 catadores, groups of independent people who work bare-handed in the landfill collecting recyclable wastes and separating out the materials in order to sell them. They live in the slum located next to the landfill, in poverty. Alienation, illiteracy, child labour, crimes between groups, death because of diseases coming from dangerous or sharpened wastes are the problems related to these poorest of persons, who are often forsaken by so-ciety. The catadores survive by collecting the wastes they find in the landfill. They give them an economic value and they can sell the recyclable materials in accordance with the cooperatives, that give back to the catadores a percentage on the sold material as salary. This informal monthly salary pay them for the job, which is not sufficient for them to survive. Cooperatives are made by ex catadores, joined in groups, that sell to the recycling company the materials. They own a basic fix capital, such as trucks and basic instruments, but ba-sically they rely on the catadores, with the percentage of money they take on the materials. Recycling materials is sold in accordance with the cooperatives to the specified recycling company (plastic recycling company, paper recycling company, foundry), to reintroduce them into the productive processes. The problem is that they need cooperatives trucks to sell the materials, and yet, they work is not protected by law. The local government is aware of the conditions of the catadores, but prefers to hide them to the citizens, who con-tinue to ignore the social problems related with the waste disposal. In economic terms, the amount of wastes produce important consequences on society: each phase of the manage-ment process has a cost that drops on the citizens4. In fact, they pay monthly a garbage tax of about 5.400.000 R$ that covers only half of the management costs. The rest is covered by internal money transfers from other taxes (about 5.600.000 R$) made by the local govern-ment5. In this way, the citizen ignores the real costs of garbage and of the simple action of throwing it away. The catadores, instead, by selecting in the landfill, are saving materials, earning money for reintroducing the materials into the productive chain, instead of bury-ing them. Even though their action is extremely positive, they remain hidden from society, because of their poverty and the consequent situations of criminality in which they live6.

3 Conselho nacional do meio ambiente – CONAMA (1997), Resoluçao 237 de 19 de Dezembro de 1997, Artigo n° 225.4 Luna-Filho E. P. (2001). A coleta e a disposição municipal de resíduos sólidos: gestão integrada. Aspectos administrativos, jurídicos e gerenciais. Centro Integrado de Ordenamento Territorial, Universidade de Brasília, pp. 22-23.5 Serviço Limpieza Urbana - SLU (2008). Plano Gerenciamento dos Residuos Solidos no DF.6 Almeida G.V. (2008). Pessoas residuais e os resíduos das pessoas: uma análise do desenvolvimento mercadológico do Distrito Federal. Ph.D. Thesis in Desenvolvimento Sustentável, Universidade de Brasília, pp. 40-44.

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7 Benvindo, A. Z. (2010). A nomeação no processo de construção do catador como ator econômico e social. Ph.D. Thesis in Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Brasília.7 Bistagnino, L. (2011). Design sistemico. Bra: Slow Food Editore.

The data showed and the state of the art allowed to realize the context of analysis in order to figure out properly the problems related to the catadores actions and the waste manage-ment system. They have a value on society that nowadays, Brazil is not able to recognize it because of citizens ignorance on social and environmental issues7. The linear logic of the waste management system, as we analyzed, creates key lacks on environmental, social and economic field. Innovation and growth in this area is hard if local stakeholders continue to come up to this problem in a linear way. It is necessary, thus, a change in approaching the problem in a systemic methodology, in order to underline the relationships between stakeholders and their consequences, step by step8. A different approach allows us to perceive the main problem, the organic part of the wastes (all kinds of food wastes). In the mixed waste collection the organic part dirties the garbage making more difficult the selection of recyclable materials, because less quantity can be separated. Thus, few materials are collected and have low quality. It would be in-teresting to act at the beginning of the waste chain system, separating out the organic part from the recyclable one. This would mean a simple conscious action for Brasilia’s citizens, because they are easily recognizable, in particular the organic part, could have higher qual-ity to follow into organic compound processes. Because of its composition, the organic could be transformed into soil in order to produce other outputs (such as biogas for green

FIG. 2: stAte OF tHe ARt.

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energy coming from bio digester) with accurate investments. It is necessary for Brazilian institutions to understand that changing the approach of waste management the territory can grow. With the systemic methodology, we designed some scenarios of separate organic collection, which, at different level, show a relevant growth of local the area as the relation-ships of the stakeholders are rising, reinforcing and evolving.The first step was made designing a scenario of separate organic waste for a 25%. To have a meaningful result in terms of separation of the waste from the citizen, a basic commu-nication about the potential benefits of recycling has to be designed. This would be basic because a similar separation of urban solid waste is already achieved. It is necessary to get results that would increase the quantity of separate wastes, outreaching a largest number of citizens through investments of the municipality. The effort of the citizens would be vain without a correct strategy, made of accurate investments in a more efficient waste management system. The separated organic and recycling parts have a great potential. After the first separation made by more conscious society there are important relationships established. Together with the cooperatives, the local government invest in separating the recyclable materials mechanically, thanks to the efforts of the legalized hand work of the catadores. A triple cooperation between catadores, cooperatives and local government is es-tablished. Investments of the local government will be paid back thanks to a more efficient work of the ex-catadores. They now have a legalized job in a structured cooperative, that does no more exploit illegal work. More, a monthly fix pay for the job, more safe work positions as they moved from the landfill into the cooperatives and established mansions on the job. The number of the workers increase: we need 630 workers coming from the landfill. Few catadores remained into the landfill, while a great part has been employed. It is easy to understand that there will be more employment on recycling field. The produc-tion of recycling materials in this way has a significant increase and so the earnings on it, in spite of the costs. The investments made by the local government can be paid back simply thanks to the recycling materials sold by the cooperative to the recycling company. Earn-ings will cover the costs of the waste management and, as direct consequence, lower the taxes that is 5.422.000 R$ (-50%9 taxes lowering with 90% allocated overheads from the cooperative to the municipality). In this way the whole community will notice the benefits coming both from the catadores’ work, now transformed into officially cooperative workers, and from a systemic management of the waste.

9 All the percentage are estimated referring to the data collected into the state of the art.

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The scenario above shows that if the stakeholders in the territory start to cooperate between them, everybody would benefit from the positive relationships in a more connected urban textile. This would mean to abandon the linear logic, instead of the success of a systemic strategy that lead to an evolution of the stakeholders. This results lead to aware the citizens to separate the recycling materials at different levels. A further step can be designed with the addiction of the paper as separated material with a scenario of separate organic col-lection for a 25%. As the organic part, the paper is easily recognizable from the citizens. Then it is one of the most disposed waste in Brasilia (16% is the percentage of paper found in the waste composition10). This new level of organic and paper 25% collected, give re-sults in terms of separation of the waste from the citizen and new benefits are goaled. The citizens see directly benefits and cooperate separating the paper too, as it is contaminated with the residual part of organic into the recyclable part. Through investments of the lo-cal municipality, the efforts of the citizens of having separated organic and paper give more resourceful potential. The organic part start to be an important point of investment for the municipality, as if processed into a local bio digester it may produce green energy for public lighting systems. This output will low other aspects to the fiscal pressing of the citizenship. Then, bio digester and cooperatives (paper and other recyclable materials) need more workers. We need 980 workers more than the previous step, increasing in this way the occupational levels. The cooperation established between catadores, cooperatives

FIG. 3: ORGAnIC sePARAtIOn 25%.

8 Serviço Limpieza Urbana-SLU (2008), Plano Gerenciamento dos Residuos Solidos no DF.

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and local government continues and the investments of the local government are paid back thanks to the work of the ex-catadores and the new renewable resources they are investing into. Together with the cooperatives, the local government is called to invest in separating mechanically the paper in the cooperative charged to separate the paper, as it happened for the recycling waste. The investments made by the local government are paid back simply thanks to the materials sold by the cooperative to the recycling company. Earnings will cover costs of the waste management and directly low the taxes (-50% taxes lowering with 90% allocated overheads). With the separation of the organic and the paper at 25% taxes low furthermore, while the well-framed cooperatives draw up contracts with about 980 workers. It’ s easy to understand that the bigger is the quantity of separated waste, the higher are the economic benefits and the social dynamics moved. New benefits for the community have been reached.

The scenarios presented showed how with cooperation, information and investments im-portant results can be achieved. The central stakeholders of the evolution are the coopera-tives, fundamental for the social growth of the catadores, at the heart of the local govern-ment investments. Also they are protagonists of a new consciousness spread between the citizenship, as the bigger is the quantity of separated waste the higher are the economic benefits and the social dynamics moved. For this reason, we designed scenarios starting from the previous one, considering their internal dynamics activated, simply increasing the quantity of waste separated at the beginning of the recyclable chain. We estimated the

FIG. 4: ORGAnIC AnD PAPeR 25% sePARAteD.

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consequences, in terms of evolution of the behaviour of the stakeholders with a clear accent on the new arising relationships. Separating organic and paper on 40%, lead to employ more workers in the recycling chain (1.585 workers more than the state of the art) in cooperatives and in bio digester. This will transform higher quantities of good quality organic compound into green energy, to be used to cover public lighting costs of municipality. Higher quantities of recycling materials are going to be sell out as they have an higher quality, too. Cooperatives increase their earnings so that they will start to get money besides the 90% overheads they have to pay for the investments. So, if a lower percentage of separate organic collection allows to limit our field of investments, now, as finally the cooperative are receiving +17% (on the state of the art), they can decide to invest by their own to grow. A correct way to invest, partnered by the local government, would be in education inside the cooperative of the workers (ex-catadores) that have been employed. In this way they can increase the efficiency and the productivity of cooperatives, making qualified workers managing the processes of their jobs. The investments made by the local government can be paid back simply thanks to the recyclable materials sold by the cooperative to the recycling company. Earnings will cover the costs of the waste management and as direct consequence low the taxes that will be estimated 4.136.000 R$ (-63% taxes lowering with 90% allocated overheads). Lo-cal government is interested in decreasing the taxes and in maintaining the relationship started. In doing this it is necessary the cooperation of the citizens. The growing economic and social development benefits will be communicated to the citizenship. They will be informed about the benefits of the separate waste collection system, about the employment of the ex-catadores in this field, about new resources and outputs in which the government invested so that the citizenship can have a more trustful relationship with the government and the territory itself. Investments on public environmental education, communication and initiatives within different cooperatives are needed. At this point, more than direct economic benefits we have benefit in terms of education and effective relationship between the actors. The citizen starts to understand his central role in the complex system of input/output. In this way the whole community will see the benefits coming from the coopera-tion and evolution of the actors in the system.

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A scenario of 50% foresees a strengthening of the social consciousness of the value of the wastes and a specialization of workers into the cooperatives. The relationship activated previously are consolidating, efficiency and productivity distinguish the cooperatives, qualified workers are managing the processes on the job. The cooperative increase the in-comes, now they are +29% than the state of the art. This earnings will cover the costs of the waste management and directly low the taxes that will be estimated 2.341.000 R$ (-79% taxes lowering with 90% allocated overheads). The higher profit allows the cooperatives to invest in research together with the local University, in new technologies and recycling processes in a systemic way. New technologies are going to be financed in the local uni-versity, thanks to the cooperatives and the government. The citizen finally understands his central role in the complex system of input/output and start to be active within these processes. Now he recognizes that garbage has a value that if properly considered, can give important results. Information, cooperation, actions are the best values that make the terri-tory grow, starting from the Brazilian’s homes and families.In this way the community, as a whole, will see the benefits coming from the new values of the stakeholders acting in the systemic approach.


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Finally, on a 60% scenario, we estimate a definitive cut of the Urban Solid Waste taxes (0 USW) and a strengthening of earnings through the whole recycling chain. Taxes has finally lowed, that means that the system has reached the breakeven point, as costs for man-aging the wastes are equal to earnings coming from the recycling chain. In the social field, workers included have been increasing of 2.340 persons and now they work in a safe and innovative context financed by cooperatives. The cooperation with local University leads to great innovations in technological field, systemic approaches to new recycling processes, zero emissions and so on. Researchers and the rising professional figures of systemic cul-ture, assisted by cooperatives, will illustrate new scenarios leaving from the systemic social, economic and environmental consciousness about the wastes. The citizen look at the waste as a resource, acting as a conscious subject linked to the territory that they feel they behave to. They trust institutions, because they assisted the changing toward a better social, eco-nomical and sustainable development model. There will be shared social and professional growths, based on information, cooperation and actions, started from the local govern-ment, coming up together thanks to the effort of every conscious subject. Knowledge and innovations continued to be shared among the actors, including the recycling companies that will contribute and adapt their productions to the aware society needs. A new society changed in their values, from exploiting the labour of poorest people to prosperity because there are no more social, economic and environmental wastes. The citizen finally under-stands his central role in the complex system of input/output and starts to be active within


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these processes. Now he recognizes that garbage has a value that if properly considered, it can give important visible outputs. Last but not least, the evolution started from conscious choices made on the territory in terms of re-using the resources and in terms of relationships between the stakeholders, in order to design a new scenario of cultural changing from a systemic point of view, desirable for future generations.

In order to have a general idea of the steps done with the different waste collection we compared in the different scenarios the economic results, costs and earnings in each phase together with investments. This general overview shows the evolution in economic terms and how this is linked to the social evolution of workers and cooperatives.


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Every single person who in some terms participate to production and consume will be actively involved in this changing, as it is expected no matter the strategies adapted. It will not be possible to come back and make sustainable actions that follow linear or particular logics. The deep transformation in the productive and consumerism system needed can not stand apart from a deeper changing in the consume behaviours and choices. In the systemic approach and its vision of natural metabolism, materials intervene on processes. It is this approach that operates through retroactions, that removes the gaps and re-establishes the spontaneous fluidity of positive metabolism between different systems11. Finally the systemic method allowed us to underline the main problems in the state of the art. The linear logic of the garbage system, as we analyzed, creates important lacks on envi-ronmental, social and economic field. Innovation and growth in the territory is difficult if we continue to approach to this problems in a linear way. It was necessary, thus, a change in approaching the problem with the systemic logic in order to underline the relationships between actors and his consequences, step by step. Separate waste collection and economi-cal benefits are only a part of the complex connective system activated in social context. We get to a gradual change, considering the relationship that are connecting the actors, the input/output exchanges realized, innovation and knowledge and how they are shared.

FIG. 8: eCOnOMIC FRAMe WORK.

9 Bistagnino, L. (2011) Design sistemico. Bra, Slow food Editore.

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It is a matter of cultural awareness of the territory, with the evolution of the characters in main subjects at the core of the transformation. In conclusion, the evolution starts from conscious choices made on the territory in terms of re-using the resources and in terms of relationships between the actors, in order to design a new scenario of cultural changing from a systemic point of view, desirable for future generations.

ReFeRenCesAlmeida G.V. (2008). Pessoas residuais e os resíduos das pessoas: uma análise do desenvol-vimento mercadológico do Distrito Federal. Ph.D. Thesis in Desenvolvimento Sustentável, Universidade de Brasília, pp. 40-44.

Benvindo, A. Z. (2010). A nomeação no processo de construção do catador como ator econômico e social. Ph.D. Thesis in Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Brasília.

Bistagnino, L. (2011). Design sistemico. Bra: Slow Food Editore.

Conselho nacional do meio ambiente - CONAMA (1997). Resoluçao 237 de 19 de Dezembro de 1997, Artigo n° 225.

Lanzavecchia, C. (2004). Il fare ecologico. Il prodotto industriale e i suoi requisiti ambientali. Torino: Time&Mind.

Luna-Filho E. P. (2001). A coleta e a disposição municipal de resíduos sólidos: gestão integrada. Aspectos administrativos, jurídicos e gerenciais Centro Integrado de Ordenamento Territorial, Universidade de Brasília, pp. 22-23.

Serviço Limpieza Urbana - SLU (2008). Plano Gerenciamento dos Residuos Solidos no DF.

Innovation in Design Education Corinto

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