STRATEGIES FOR A PARTICIPATORY MANAGEMENT OF SOLID WASTE COLLECTION

Abstract

The “Reciclar” Project, aiming the proper disposal of solid waste generated at the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), conducts educational activities, technical assistance and dissemination of the selective collection. Every year the “Reciclar” indicates others extension projects to PIBEX, a financial agency of the University. Last year, it was indicated the project “Ações Integradas, Participativas e Administrativas na Coleta Seletiva de Resíduos Sólidos na UFV em 2011”. The extension projects about selective collection are very important for the performance of this practice, because they promote practical and strategic actions with emphasis in the environmental education in many sectors and departments of the UFV. The collection helded at the University is binary: where recyclables are separated from non-recyclable. The recyclable materials are placed in blue bags and non-recyclables in black bags; then, the wasted material is collected by the Division of Parks and Gardens and taken to the “Associação de Trabalhadores da Usina de Triagem e Reciclagem de Viçosa (ACAMARE)”. The process begins with the creation of selective collection cores in the buildings of UFV, where selective collectors are distributed. These activities, and other related stuff, are held by students and volunteers who, through meetings with supervisors, work groups, and volunteers, plan the selective collection in their own sectors. To integrate the “Reciclar”s members and promote discussions about activities, meetings are held weekly for internal planning and exchange information about the actions. The Project’s promotion is done through presentations, like those held recently to the freshmen, conversations with cleaning staff and technicians, at the University and Project website (www.projetoreciclar.ufv.br), by Facebook and printed graphic materials. Selective collection has become a routine part of UFV; however, only about 20% of recyclable material is being conducted appropriately, showing that there still has a lot of growing to strength the importance of the selective collection based in a participatory management, not just operational.