Gestão de resíduos recicláveis em um município de pequeno porte: a percepção de um grupo de munícipes sobre a efetividade e as limitações da coleta seletiva

Abstract

The management of municipal solid waste represents a major challenge for environmental public policies in Brazil, particularly in small municipalities, where structural and institutional limitations often compromise the effectiveness of nationally established guidelines. In this context, selective waste collection plays a strategic role in the recovery of recyclable materials, the reduction of landfill disposal, and the promotion of environmental sustainability. However, the consolidation of such systems depends on the articulation of planning, infrastructure, governance, and social participation. This study aimed to analyze the factors limiting the effectiveness of selective waste collection in the municipality of Vera Cruz do Oeste, Paraná, based on the perception of a group of residents, articulating the findings of a systematic literature review with the results of a qualitative field study. The research was structured in two complementary stages. The first consisted of a systematic literature review, identifying and categorizing variables influencing the management of selective collection, including educational, institutional, structural, economic, and sociocultural dimensions. The second stage involved a qualitative field study based on semi-structured interviews with residents. Data was examined using Content Analysis, allowing the organization of findings into analytical categories and integrative core themes. The results indicate that participants recognize the environmental importance of selective waste collection and demonstrate a favorable disposition toward waste separation. Nevertheless, perceptions of service discontinuity, limited institutional communication, insufficient information, and administrative instability emerged as significant constraints. The comparison between empirical findings, scientific literature, and the guidelines established by the Brazilian National Solid Waste Plan (PLANARES) revealed diagnostic convergence at the conceptual level, but operational divergence in practice. An implementation gap was identified, characterized by the distance between robust normative frameworks and the local institutional capacity to operationalize them continuously and systematically, particularly in small municipalities. The study concludes that the effectiveness of selective waste collection in the investigated context is not primarily associated with a lack of environmental awareness, but rather with structural, institutional, and informational constraints that hinder policy consolidation. By shifting the analytical focus from purely behavioral explanations to a structural public policy perspective, the research contributes to the debate on solid waste management in small municipalities, highlighting the need to strengthen local institutional capacities to ensure the effective implementation of national guidelines.