Sustainability performance indicators: improving waste picker organizations in a Brazilian region

In low- and middle-income countries, waste pickers organized in cooperatives and associations face legal, operational, and management challenges. This article proposes a method to assess the performance of waste picker organizations based on sustainability indicators, as well as suggesting relevant measures to improve the formal recycling and solid waste source-separated collection. The method was applied to evaluate ten organizations in a region comprising 12 municipalities in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The sustainability indices indicated low performance of the organizations, highlighting the lack of investment resulting in low monthly income for waste pickers, low recovery rates of recyclable waste, and poor working, health and safety conditions. The size of the municipality and existence of a contract between the municipal governments and waste picker organizations were not decisive factors for achieving favorable performance. Additionally, in the study region, there is no evidence that favorable performance of an individual organization leads to higher rate of recyclable waste recovery. However, there is evidence suggesting that it leads to higher income for waste pickers. To improve performance, a set of measures that can support formation of waste picker organizations in Brazil and other countries was proposed and validated through participatory means.