Environmental Education and Mobilization with recyclable material collectors: problem solving, rescue of self-esteem and construction of autonomy

Abstract

This study is part of the doctoral thesis and analyzes the training of collectors of recyclable materials in the Greater São Paulo Metropolitan Region. The objective is to identify elements to support the participatory construction of sustainable solutions to the socio-environmental problem of solid waste in urban areas. These educational actions are in the context of dialogues on Environmental Education, aimed at the implementation of public and institutional policies for participatory management of solid waste. Currently, Brazil is undergoing the implementation of new Integrated Waste Management processes, which include the participation of waste pickers and, therefore, there is a need to expand selective collection and professionalism in cooperative work. In this text, there are striking for waste pickers, evidenced by the creation of Focus Groups, in 2008, during the Participatory and Sustainable Waste Management Project - 2005 to 2012, in an agreement between FEUSP, FAFE and UVic, and financial support from the Canadian Agency for International Development. Focused meetings were held with trainers and waste pickers. The main contributions were in personal development, in self-worth, in the internalization of cooperative values ​​and the solidarity economy, and also in the analysis of the socio-political and environmental contexts of these workers' lives.