Os resíduos sólidos em tempos de crise sanitária: os desafios dos municípios da microrregião de Ponta Grossa – Paraná

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought numerous challenges for societies. In addition to the public health crisis, it has also had an impact on mental health, income generation and work, and an increase in consumption and waste generation, since social isolation has been decreed. With this in mind, it is understood that the subject of solid waste is not exhausted; on the contrary, it is necessary to constantly revisit the regulations and dealings regarding it, in order to consider the movement of everyday reality, which directly impacts those who produce, consume and, consequently, those who collect and dispose of the waste. This work is based on the premise that the waste generated has become an even greater problem during the pandemic, as it is also considered a vector for the virus in question. The research problem is as follows: how was solid waste generated and disposed of during the COVID-19 pandemic in the municipalities that make up the Ponta Grossa - Paraná micro-region? The thesis is based on the assumption that new elements are needed for dealing with solid waste, with guidelines and protocols for periods of disaster. These elements include: prevention protocols, handling protocols, disposal protocols and the establishment of guidelines on waste generation and its types. In this sense, the general objective of this thesis was to analyze the management of urban solid waste during the COVID-19 pandemic in the municipalities that make up the micro-region of Ponta Grossa - Paraná. The research is exploratory and quantitative-qualitative in nature, for which it also uses bibliographic and documentary research. The research was divided into two stages: in the first, a form was chosen as the data collection instrument, which was built on the Microsoft Forms platform and sent by e-mail to the municipalities that make up the Association of Municipalities of the Campos Gerais (AMCG); the second stage reoriented the research sample to the municipalities of Carambeí, Castro, Palmeira and Ponta Grossa, according to the classification of the Territorial Division of Brazil, proposed by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. The interviews were conducted with the following segments: recyclable material collectors, health surveillance and the environment department. The results showed that the municipalities were not previously prepared to deal with COVID-19, so emergency actions were taken that did not impact the subjects in the way expected. The need for coordination between public policies in the planning, execution and evaluation of actions is highlighted, so that they do not remain focused and temporary. Although the municipalities provided guidelines and established protocols, no evaluations were carried out on them, and after the period that declared the end of the global emergency, they tended to return to their regular activities.