The social shaping of waste and sorting technologies: the case of MRFs transfer in São Paulo

Abstract

What to do with waste produced on a large scale when burying or incinerating is no longer technically, socially and environmentally tolerated? This work presents the case of the municipality of São Paulo, which opted for the transfer of European materials recovery facilities (MRFs) in order to expand its capacity for sorting recyclable waste and, thus, trying to partially answer this question. From the methodological framework used, anthropotechnological analysis and the ergonomic analysis of work, it was possible to reveal problems arising from this technology transfer, related to the external environment, the internal production process and the results. The problems highlighted are taken up in the light of the concept of “anthropotechnology” by Alain Wisner, which aims to support designers in the elaboration of projects more adherent to the realities of the situations found in the destination countries. In the end, suggestions for redesigning these systems are presented, in order to reduce the pretensions of mechanization and automation in the substitution of human labor, proposing integrated human-machine systems that result in better overall performance and production quality.

Keywords:
Material recovery facility. Recycling. Technology transfer. Redesign. Waste pickers.