Objectives: The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the National Policy on Solid Waste instruments ‒ Selective Collection, Reverse Logistics System (RLS) and Sectoral Agreement (SA) ‒ on the infrastructure and operating conditions of nine recycling cooperatives in the city of Rio de Janeiro in 2021. Methodology: The data collection was conducted through interviews with waste pickers associations and by compiling a database – ¨Sectoral Agreement of Packaging Industry Map of Actions''. There was also an analysis of the correlation between the average income with formalization time, number of members, source of materials and SA activities. Relevance: The National Policy on Solid Waste (NPSW) recognizes the importance of waste pickers and ensures they are integrated in a shared responsibility model for the product life-cycle, by encouraging them to form cooperatives. Results: Only three cooperatives took part in the RLS and issued invoices. Approximately half of the SA activities were allocated to a single cooperative, which was more profitable and had a better infrastructure. There was a moderate- to- strong correlation with four of the analyzed variables which meant that there was no standardized procedure for the allocation of investments to cooperatives, and this affected their productive capacity. Contributions to management: When seeking to make the sector better, the SA must establish criteria to ensure the most precarious cooperatives are included so that their operational and general performance can be improved.
Silva et al. (Mon,) studied this question.