Análise de sistemas de gestão de resíduos sólidos urbanos em municípios a partir da experiência das cidades de São Leopoldo/Brasil e Zurique/Suíça

Abstract

The role of municipalities in the solid waste management currently generated by the communities, has proved complex and often inefficient when the chosen model is executed in an emergency way or when constant changes happen. Aware about the difficulties faced by municipalities in implement the management attending the technical, environmental and financial features, this paper was based on a case study of Sao Leopoldo (Brazil) and Zurich (Switzerland). The objective was to analyze the municipal solid waste management in the two cities, proposing actions and interventions that assist managers in their decisions. Using the informations collected in interviews applied to responsible agencies, each operational step was characterized, was also created a Waste Stream Mapping for data visualization and comparison of systems. The results allowed seeing even that Sao Leopoldo and Zurich have similar area, they have different system for solid waste management. It was noted positively that the two municipalities have selective collection and send their waste to final destination properly, but the quality of processes in Sao Leopoldo is lower than Zurich, resulting in a smaller volume of material re-inserted in the chain of production and increasing the volume of waste sent to landfill. In other way, the management model of Zurich is more expensive, especially about incineration, but the billing system and energy trading involves the people and pay the operations. The research showed some points that can be improved in the two cities, which can be on future a basis for other municipalities. It also supported the understanding that each step has its management peculiarity, that must be planned and controlled, because the final quality of management is attained by all operations together.