Roupas em trânsito: trajetórias do descarte têxtil no município de São Carlos – SP

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the trajectory of clothing disposal in the city of São Carlos – SP, investigating its social, cultural, economic, and environmental implications. The study starts from the Fundo Social de Solidariedade de São Carlos, a municipal institution that serves as a collection and redistribution point for clothing donations, and follows the pathways of cloths from their arrival to their final destination, including the city’s Ecopontos (solid waste collection sites). The methodology was based on fieldwork involving participant observation and unstructured interviews conducted between October 2025 and February 2026, complemented by visits to all municipal Ecopontos. The theoretical framework draws on the anthropology of material culture, engaging with authors such as Kopytoff, Ingold, Sahlins, Stallybrass, and Knowles, who conceive objects as carriers of social meanings embedded in flows of transformation. The results indicate that clothing disposal is perceived as a problem by the different actors involved: the Fundo Social faces difficulties with donations in poor condition, a scarcity of men’s clothing, and the lack of adequate places to send discarded items; the Ecopontos, in turn, register high public demand for textile disposal but lack the infrastructure to receive them, leading most textile waste to be sent to landfill. The research concludes that the problem of clothing disposal in São Carlos cannot be reduced to individual behaviors but reveals a structural gap in public policies and infrastructure for textile waste. The trajectories traced show that clothes continue to be transformed and produce social effects even after being discarded, confirming the importance of addressing the phenomenon beyond its environmental dimension and considering its social, cultural, and political implications.