Governança da gestão de resíduos sólidos brasileira: caminhos para a efetivação da Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos

Abstract

Waste management in Brazil was marked by Law 12,305/2010, the National Waste Policy (NWP). Since then, timid advances have been achieved, and it is necessary to bring innovative interdisciplinary perspectives to the discussion. Thus, we sought to understand the waste management governance in the country in the period 1991-2020, as well as its relationship with the implementation of this policy, analyzing the articulation of the actors involved. Using the process tracing method, results point to the low horizontal and vertical articulation of the official interest group, impacting on decentralization, definition of responsibilities and local implementation. At the national level, it was observed that the Ministry of the Environment (ME), the current Ministry of Regional Development and the National Health Foundation understand the sector from different perspectives, shaping the tripartite optics that represents a challenge for integrated action. At the state level, the lack of articulation led to the State Public Ministries being protagonists, strengthening local and regional implementation of the NWP. The collective interest group had a greater performance at the end of the 1990s through the National Forum Waste & Citizenship, in addition to the performance of the National Movement of Waste Pickers of Recyclable Materials, which had space for articulation with the federal government (2003-2015), favoring the solid waste agenda and ensuring the inclusion of the category in the NWP. The business interest group is characterized by the overlapping of economic interests, as well as by the technical view of the sector. The influence of this group resulted in indirect accountability of the private sector, weakening the NWP. It is concluded that the lack of a formalized governance arrangement for waste management impacts on: (i) the lack of responsibilities definition for the different actors; (ii) the burden on municipalities to implement the PNRS; (iii) the low capacity of the ME to coordinate the policy; and (iv) the instability of this policy in the face of changes in the national and international context. In this scenario, even though the formalization of a governance arrangement is essential, the current context is not favorable to articulation, decentralization, participation, integrated management and a systemic view, representing risks of stagnation and setbacks for the NWP.