Proposta de um índice de gestão de resíduos sólidos baseado na setorização da coleta. Estudo de caso: João Pessoa-PB, Brasil

Abstract

In recent decades, due to rapid population growth and changing consumption patterns, solid waste generation has increased dramatically, increasingly challenging public managers regarding the sustainability of their systems. In this context, adopting a sectoral approach supported by sustainability indices can increase the efficiency and assertiveness of management actions. Therefore, this research aimed to develop a sectoral index to assess municipal solid waste management performance, based on collection sectors in Brazilian municipalities, using the municipality of João Pessoa, Paraíba, as a case study. The Sectoral Index of Municipal Solid Waste Management (ISGRSM) was constructed in four main stages. Initially, 26 indicators across environmental, economic, and social dimensions were selected through a systematic bibliometric review, with 14 retained after experts in the field decided upon them using the Delphi technique. Subsequently, using the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP), these dimensions and indicators were weighted and ranked. As a result of this process, the ISGRSM was structured through the weighted additive aggregation of three sub-indices: environmental, composed of six indicators; economic, composed of three indicators; and social, composed of five indicators. The metric ranges from 0 to 1, and five classification bands are excellent (> 0.90), good (0.71–0.90), moderate (0.51–0.70), alert (0.31–0.50), and critical (≤0.3). To assess its applicability, the index was validated in 20 neighborhoods of João Pessoa, organized according to socioeconomic class as A, B, C, D, and E. The results revealed that sectors in classes A and B presented moderate performance, while neighborhoods in classes C, D, and E, with the exception of Bairro dos Ipês, which also registered moderate performance, manifested a state of alert. The main limitations identified include limited or no selective collection coverage, low public engagement, high landfill disposal rates, and a lack of educational initiatives, all of which are exacerbated in the most vulnerable neighborhoods. Based on these results, it was concluded that systematic use of the index can help identify gaps in waste management and develop assertive strategies tailored to sectoral needs.