ITAURB is classified in Brazilian legal terms as an "autarky." Fellow history nerds may find the term familiar from the WWII era. Broadly meaning "self-sufficient," the word was often used in Nazi Germany to describe Hitler's goal of creating an international empire that had complete control over all the resources it needed for long-term economic growth, thus eliminating the need to trade with the outside world. In Brazilian legal jargon, autarky is used to describe a somewhat self-sufficient decentralized government enterprise. The municipal government creates an entity to handle a specific function (urban cleaning, for example), and then that entity establishes an administrative structure and functions independently, although still under ultimate jurisdiction of the state. ITAURB is responsible for Itabira's urban cleaning, which covers trash collection and disposal, recycling programs, street sweeping, and weeding/gardening.
Our site visit took place at ITAURB's recycling sorting center. We toured the area with one of the supervisors to learn about their business model, sorting process, and architectural layout. Overall, the model was very similar to that used by the cooperatives. Material is separated at the source by local residents and businesses and then picked up and taken to the recycling center ("selective collection" is the common term for this activity). As at Coopert, the material is unloaded at a silo, where it is pushed through a chute onto a conveyor belt, where workers sort out the material. The materials are then pressed and stored in a separate area. ITAURB also had a "fine sorting" area where materials were further sorted by hand into more specific types (ex: milk-based PEAD plastic vs. soap-based PEAD plastic).
It was hard not to be impressed by the efficiency of the ITAURB operation. The space was very clean and well-organized, and the finished products seemed to be of higher quality (more precise sorting, less dirty). According to information we received during the tour (still unconfirmed), the ITAURB program not only covers nearly the entire population and achieves a very low rejection rate for the material it collects, it also is able to sell its products directly to industry and thus receive better prices. All in all, I found it hard not to make comparisons with the apparent chaos of some of the warehouses of catadores and wonder if this sort of recycling model would be more replicable on a larger scale (and thus more able to achieve its environmental goals). Compared to the confusion and instability of the cooperatives, I was reminded of the allure of the efficient, hierarchical capitalist business model.
At the same time, however, I reminded myself that ITAURB and the organizations of catadores do not share the same ultimate goal. Although the autarky does make an effort to employ people from low-income communities in its operations, the principal focus is on urban cleaning and not on social inclusion. The catadores, on the other hand, care first and foremost about providing opportunities for marginalized people to participate in society and earn a basic income, and the fact that they are promoting environmentalism is a side benefit. Comparing autarkies and cooperatives side by side, I was once again reminded that our environmental and social goals are not always one in the same. When we are forced to prioritize one objective over the other, it becomes readily apparent that the work we do is not always so straightforward. As someone who cares deeply in both environmentalism and social inclusion, it is hard to have to consider potential trade-offs.
However, when I take a step back and try to think in larger, philosophical terms, I feel less pressure to choose between these two aspects. While our current capitalist economic model has created significant wealth in the world and greatly improved our quality of life in many ways, it has two principal failings in my view. First, it is not sustainable in the long term because it depends on infinite increases in production despite finite limits in natural resources and also fails to fully account for the external costs of pollution. Second, it marginalizes people who are unable to sell themselves on the labor market, designating them as unproductive members of society outside of the economic mainstream. Both of these problems must be addressed. If we want to work toward creating an economic order that is both more sustainable and just, and I for one certainly do, then we need to avoid falling in the trap of thinking that promoting environmentalism and social inclusion are somehow mutually incompatible.
In practice, I know that I will still struggle at times to simultaneously achieve both of these goals in my work. There will be instances when I feel compelled to choose between one aim and the other, as I have already seen through my research here. But ultimately, we have to keep working to combine environmentalism with social inclusion as much as possible, because that is the only way that we will be able to improve society as a whole.
Some pictures from ITAURB:
Pressed materials in storage (wrapped in cardboard, weight written on side)
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