Negotiations and Conflict in the Implementation of a Waste Pickers’ Cooperative: A Sociology of Translation Approach

Priscila Soraia da Conceição Ribeiro, Emília Wanda Rutkowski and Sonaly Rezende
Additional contact information
Priscila Soraia da Conceição Ribeiro: Academic Department of Engineering, Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR), Linha Santa Bárbara, Francisco Beltrão 85601-970, Brazil
Emília Wanda Rutkowski: FLUXUS, Teachlearning Laboratory on Urban Morphology and Socio-Environmental Sustainability, Department of Infrastructure and Environment, School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urban Studies, UNICAMP—University of Campinas, Campinas 13083-889, Brazil
Sonaly Rezende: Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-13

Abstract: The complexity of converting political options into socially, economically, and environmentally acceptable strategies places collectors of recyclable material and the challenges they experience on the agendas of research in science, technology, and society. This article aims to investigate the negotiations and conflicts that permeated the implementation of a waste pickers’ cooperative and its integration into the municipal solid waste management system. Considering the complexity of the theme, the methodological approach adopted was grounded theory. This method encourages the expansion of knowledge in an area through the connection of theoretical concepts and significant aspects of the actors’ experiences. The techniques applied for data collection included semi-structured interviews, participant observation, document analysis, and informal interviews. The results are based on narratives analyzed from concepts derived from the Sociology of Translation. It was possible to observe the efforts undertaken by multiple actors, sometimes in the construction and other times in the destabilization of a support network for the establishment of a cooperative. The network suffered dissidents and was destabilized by the habits of the original network and by unexpected events, which made the results achieved opposite to desired ones. In the end, the network was not stabilized, and municipal solid waste management was unchanged.

Keywords: integrated solid waste management; grounded theory; human and non-human actors; actor-network theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12889/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12889/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:22:p:12889-:d:684543

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().