Percepção dos impactos ambientais por catadores de associações em João Pessoa-Pb

Abstract

The issue of solid waste is complex, as it touches on several areas of knowledge. The National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS) consolidates the change in legislation that links the demands of waste collector with the legal recognition of their work. Playing a leading role in legislation, reality distances itself from the document by revealing the precarious situations that these professionals carry out in their profession of fundamental contribution to the recycling chain and management of urban solid waste. Due to its critical nature, environmental education becomes a very important instrument in changing local reality, as it allows individuals to question aspects of their environment and causes a change in perception, building differentiated citizens who seek to achieve sustainable development. To apply efficient environmental education methodologies, it is necessary to previously know the perception of the community to be worked on about the environment, and it is through this need that the work arises with the purpose of understanding the profile and perspective on environmental impacts of wate collector of two associations in João Pessoa-PB. The Association of Recyclable Material Collectors (ASCARE-JP) and Acordo Verde were selected for this study because they are located in the same urban context for comparative purposes. In general, associated collectors live in peripheral areas of the city, have children and an income of one minimum wage, and benefit from income transfer programs. The perception of environmental impacts is related to the stimuli of the environment in which the individual belongs, ASCARE-JP presented a more critical and detailed view of environmental impacts, including the positive impacts caused by the work performed; the Green Agreement presented a superficial view of the topic, where it was found that this distance from the topic was linked to the vulnerability of basic rights that members faced.