Emergência e dinâmicas das práticas de reciclagem de PET no BRASIL : múltiplos campos e embates de valores

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to analyze the emergence of industrial practices of PET recycling in Brazil. A predominantly qualitative research based on the principles of reflexive sociology proposed by Pierre Bourdieu was developed. Theoretical tools proposed by this author were combined with the ones of the Strategic Action Fields approach and with insights of the pragmatic sociology of critique. Primary and secondary data were collected, analyzed and articulated in the historical narrative presented here. We argue that the configuration of this market was conditioned by moral aspects associated with the emergence of the environmentalism and also by structural aspects of Brazilian society. The joint operation of these macro structures explained the rise of the "Brazilian model of recycling", based on a compromise between economic and environmental objectives, usually embraced by recycling, and the pursuit of "social inclusion" of recyclable material collectors, who traditionally accept working in the informal waste collection and constitute the foundations of recycling chains in the country. The dynamics of soft drinks and municipal solid waste management sectors was also influenced decisively the emergence and expansion of PET recycling practices. These practices appeared mainly in the textile, in the paint and resins and PET industries as part of the strategies of the companies to reduce costs. We found that companies tend to use more intensely moral justifications associated with recycling in periods of instability. Additionally to the practical understanding about this recycling market, this study helped to build connections between influential contemporary sociological approaches of organizational studies and economic sociology and offered novel ways to use their theoretical tools in empirical research. We highlight the contribution to understanding the connections between social and moral structures and to make sense of the dynamics relationships of multiple fields