United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

The city of Londrina produces about 400 tons of household solid waste daily. That implies in a demand for room and management of this daily amount of waste. What can we do, as the controlled municipal landfill comes from an ancient waste deposit, with about three decades, causing damages to the environment, and plus, it has no more room for the deposition of Urban Solid Waste (USW).

This problem of Urban Waste, highlighted by the lack of adequate areas for the final destination of USW, considering these lacks and needs, causes uncertainty on the USW issue.

Though it is a daily challenge, the Selective Waste Collection offers a reduction of the waste volume in the generating source, that is, our houses, promoting step by step behavior changes on people, and leading to a new form of commitment, the waste recycling, involving not only technical and environmental issues, but also, social issues.

We avoid burying, on a daily basis, lots of raw materials, that serve as an income source to hundreds of people, and that, until little time ago, were marginalized, unemployed, people who were former streets and landfills garbage pickers, who formed groups named Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Currently they are 34 Groups, with almost 500 associated.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Social Benefits: - Generation of direct and indirect employment; installation of new recycling industries in the region and increase of recycling industries activities already existing. - Social rescue of the individual, through the creation of garbage pickers associations, or even, through the autonomous garbage picking work, conquering society’s respect. Note: All changes generates troubles, but, to reach the goal, depends on the efforts, either from the municipality, or the organized society itself. Economic benefits: The cost-benefit relation of the Selective Garbage Collection, brings divises for the municipality. Materials that once were buried, now generate financial resources that add up in the internal market and boost up municipal economy, generating work and income for more than 2000 families, directly. Another important points: - Cut on expenses with the remediation of areas damaged by the ill-conditioning of garbage - Cut on expenses with public collection, considering that the behavior of environmentally educated and conscious communities results in less need of State intervention. Environmental benefits: Environmental benefits are immensurable. Tons of recyclables are not sent to the landfill daily, and, as a consequence, they promote the following benefits: - Cost reduction with garbage final disposal. - Increase on the time of usefulness for the landfill. - General cost decrease on the public collection expenses, taking into account that the behavior of environmentally educated and conscious communities results in less need of State intervention. - Improvement on the environmental and public health status for the city. - Spare natural resources.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Before the City Hall defines its actuation strategies on the Selective Garbage Collection, it is convenient getting information about the formal and informal market structure, that have worked for decades, feeding the recycling industries, the latter, that recycle paper scraps. The paper pickers are directly accountable for this process. Now, they don’t only “pick” papers, but also plastic and metals, coming from the garbage selection on the generating source. All over the country, the garbage pickers, with their carts, are very important, because the materials collected for them don’t come to the deposits and landfills in the cities, contributing for those places’ time of usefulness. Thus, municipal government promotes a social program, intertwined with the NGOs, calling them to accountability, with an action’s program.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
Though it is a challenge to be faced, the Selective Garbage Collection Program started in the second semester of year 1996, and targeted a step by step change in every person’s behavior, regarding the production and separation of household waste, leading to a new cycle, committed with reutilization and recycling, involving not only technical and environmental issues but also, social issues, and awakening in the community’s mind a sensitiveness to the environmental problems created by household wastes, as well as economic and social costs resulting from the non-utilization of materials discarded daily by the population on the environment.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
All the process starts with a wide environmental education work, where technicians e educators have the population consciousness as a goal, which is done through speeches in the elementary schools, and with the community itself. People have the Garbage Collection Service on their homes, which is done by 500 garbage pickers, organized in 24 NGO groups, in partnership with CMTU (Traffic and Urbanization Municipal Company). After the collection, all recyclable materials are sent to the NGO Sorting Facilities, where they are sorted and kept for sale. Another offered service is the VDCs (Voluntary Deposit Containers), which are large containers scattered on several points in the city. This collection is done on Saturdays. Currently, we have 35 of them and we propose the purchase of 35 new containers for use, mainly in buildings.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Main obstacles: • Lack of basic structure for most of the NGOs, for instance, facilities, bathrooms, adequate vehicles for the collection, causing excess of complaints on the collection, and delays in sorting and keeping the materials in rainy days; • Monitoring and managing of the NGOs, due to the lack of one more vehicle; • Lack of facilities for the coordination of the Selective Collection, due to an increase on services and staff. • Delay on the downtown garbage collection, done by the NGOs, due to the change of responsible companies in the municipal household collection system; • Build up and legislation of the Weighing and Sales Facilities and its branches. Overcoming the problems: • Increase of the recycling and collection service to almost 90% of the city, doubling the covered area throughout a single year, and promoting habilitation courses on Environmental Education to the agents • Improvements on the environmental status in some neighborhoods, promoting a mass participation of the city population and expanding the sorting facilities, increasing the recyclable materials sorting capacity; • Involvement of several CMTU technicians on the NGOs monitoring, creating a technical habilitation on garbage recycling, with goals achieved. • Evolution of the concepts of recyclers activities (junkyards, deposits, industries and garbage pickers) promoting one of the important phases of the process, that is, the handling with the recyclable materials; • Evolution of the NGOs, regarding the business and social insight, and personal relationships. • Professionalism on the recyclable materials selection, in the NGOs, additionally promoting a Weighing and Sales Facility (CEPEVE), where all the groups gather to sell their materials, thus, gathering value to their products; • Engagements on the environmental issues, in the NGOs; • Creating structure to guarantee the process, which comprises three important stages, as: Garbage collection, sorting the materials, and sales. These stages are like a three rings chain, which cannot come apart, all is expected to work properly.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Current Structure: Staff Amount Functional Status CMTU 10 Public Servant VISATEC 17 Contracted company NGOs 489 Associated Total 516 Equipment Amount Assets Status Electronic Scales 01 public Manual Scales 01 public Containers 2m3 30 contracted Compact Truck 5m3 01 contracted Trucks 25 m3 05 contracted Fork-lift truck 01 donated Computer 02 public Containers 35 public Manual Press 03 public Hydraulic Press 05 public Glass crasher 03 public Plastic crasher 01 public Sorting facilities 11 rented Sorting facilities 03 public Sorting facilities 20 NGOs Fiorino Vehicle 01 public Uno Mille Vehicle 01 NGOs Van 08 NGOs Uno Mille Vehicle 02 public Costs Description Amount Monthly value (US$) Collection trucks 06 194,076,00 Technical staff 10 17,970.00 Environm. Education several 8,985.00 Maintenance and Fuel 03 vehicles 2,124.34 Garbage bags (100 lit) 310.000 83,560.50 Total 306,715.84 The resources come from the Urbanization municipal Funding

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Social Benefits Currently, the garbage pickers participation as selective collection agents is crucial to the maintenance of the recyclable material market and, consequently, as a support for the recycling industry, a selective collection program should contemplate the work of these professionals, even if there is no direct support to the activity. The valorization of the garbage pickers work leads to economic and social gains. Many individuals that are marginalized by several motives will be able to engage in the garbage picking activity through an organization, going through a process of “rescue of citizenship”, having again a definite role in the society, as well as a regular income source, and this contingent of people, even anonymously, had and still have great importance, because they take thousands of tons of recyclable products out of the garbage. Only people who know this sector, are able to assess the contribution promoted by them in the latest years. The involvement of this contingent brought several benefits, such as: - Social Benefits, generating indirect and direct employments, with the installation of new recycling industries in the region and increasing the activities of the recycling industries already existing. - Social rescue of individuals, through the creation of garbage picker associations, or even, through the autonomous garbage picking work, conquering society’s respect. Note: All changes generates troubles, but, to reach the goal, depends on the efforts, either from the municipality, or the organized society itself. Economic benefits: The cost-benefit relation of the Selective Garbage Collection, brings divises to the municipality. Materials that once were buried, now generate financial resources that add up in the internal market and boost up city economy, generating work and money. Another important points: - Cut on expenses with the remediation of areas damaged by the ill-conditioning of garbage - Cut on expenses with public collection, considering that the behavior of environmentally educated and conscious communities results in less need of State intervention. - Cost reduction on the final garbage deposition. - Generation of income source for more than 400 people. Environmental benefits: Environmental benefits are immensurable. Tons of recyclables are not sent to the landfill daily, and, as a consequence, they promote the following benefits: - Increase on the time of usefulness for the landfill. - Improvement on the environmental and public health status for the city. This processed has successfully worked out in this city. Many other Brazilian and Latin American cities are visiting Londrina, to get acquainted with the process and seek knowledge to the execution of their Household waste selective collection programs.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
We avoid burying, on a daily basis, lots of raw materials (recyclable materials), that serve as an income source to hundreds of people, and that, until little time ago, were marginalized, unemployed, but currently, these people are organized and inserted in society, with their self-esteem rescue, and are politic conscious, participating of all the Selective Collection program operational process, in Londrina, adding more and more value to the process. All this contingent of people can now go a further step on their lives, and intend to increase their enterprising by developing recycling. Data provided by Jose Paulo da Silva – Selective Collection Coordination – CMTU – Londrina.


Institution Name:		Traffic and Urbanization Municipal Company
Institution Type:		Public-Private Partnership
Contact Person:		José Silva
Title:		Coordinator
Telephone/ Fax:		43-3379-7900
Institution's / Project's Website:		43-3379-7955
E-mail:		jose.paulo@londrina.pr.gov.br
Address:		1213, Prof João Candido Street
Postal Code:		86010-001
City:		Londrina
State/Province:		Parana
Country:		Brazil

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information