Construção de uma matriz de indicadores de sustentabilidade para a gestão de resíduos sólidos urbanos

Abstract

Solid waste management have been the focus of researchers’ concern from various fields of study, as well as becoming one of the biggest challenges to cities over the coming decades. One way to assess, monitor and plan the Urban Solid Waste Management (USWM) is through the use of sustainability indicators, an instrument that can assist public managers on decision-making. This study was conducted in order to develop a USWM Indicators Matrix. The Matrix construction was made based on information acquired from national and international references. Indicators were organized into a preliminary Matrix, which underwent an external validation process by some experts by the Delphi method. For all descriptors’ validation, two rounds were necessary, using the consensus of 50%. The first round validated 80,2% of descriptors and the others were validated at a subsequent step. The final Matrix contains six dimensions of sustainability: political, technological, economic /financial, environmental/ecological, knowledge and social inclusion, covering 42 indicators and 126 descriptors. The final Matrix was applied at Alagoinhas’ town, Bahia, to obtain the local Sustainability Level (SL) of USWM. The SL found was equal to 6,25, which corresponds to an average sustainability. The designed Matrix proved to be feasible when applied at Alagoinhas’ town. This approach not only allowed a general sense of the USW situation in town, but also helped indentify the management priorities. This experience showed that the indicators of sustainability have to allow a systemic view which considers the environmental, social, cultural, economic, ecological, and public health variables, according the principles and goals of the National Solid Waste Policy.