Waste Audit and Recycling Program, Rocinha

Three projects were conducted in the Rocinha favela of Rio de Janeiro for the State Department for Social Development and Human Rights (SEASDH).

The first project involved identifying areas to designate and develop as recycling and waste picking centers on roads wide enough to be accessed by vehicle. The process was conducted by GPS-tagging areas as potential recycling sites. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with waste pickers throughout the favela to determine how and where areas for the separation of trash could improve the overall garbage problem, generate income for the informal sector, and ease picker’s workloads. The pickers identified how high value trash could be sorted and where the recycling posts should be located (where there was a large enough area to recycle, and where pickers were already working). Photographic wayfinders linked to an online Bing map, which was presented to SEASDH together with descriptions about each site.

The second project involved identifying areas that required critical cleanup. The project resulted in mobilizing community and state resources (SEASDH/COMLURB) to remove trash from a historic two-storey structure, formerly the Institute for Culture, that was completely filled with garbage and presented a critical vermin infestation.

The third project involved designing waste audits for a pilot recycling program aimed to tackle inefficiency and wastefulness in the four municipal schools and one state school inside Rocinha. The plan was designed as a state-led, self-sustaining program to provide a guide to best practices and the support resources necessary to launch waste reduction and reuse programs. A pedagogical component was designed to guide teacher-student conversations about the favela waste crisis and bring attention to the value of reduction and reuse.