Avaliação da operação das unidades de triagem e compostagem instaladas no estado de Minas Gerais

Abstract

Sorting and composting facilities or UTCs have been implemented in the Brazil since the early 1970s, without any meanningful results that justify their use. In Minas Gerais, innumerable sorting and composting facilities were built in response to public action and efforts to eradicate the dumps in the state. The present study intended to verify the operational conditions of these units deployed in Minas Gerais. For this, the research was developed through documentary analysis of technical surveys reports from the Enviromenmental State Foundation (FEAM) and monitoring reports of the units. It was also used qualitative research, through semi-structured interviews, with the objetive of identifying the main difficulties in the development of the composting activies. Therefore, nine municipalities of Minas Gerais were studied, through interviews with the technical coordinator of these facilities and with ssome experts. From the study, it was verified thet the technique needs advances and it has not reached the expected operational and environmental efficiency. A negative aspect observed was the lack of control of the composting process that is carried out in these units, in consequence, generates a product with por quality and with serious restrictions on use. Finally, the determining factors in the performance of the units were: lack of interest and lack of support from local administrations. It was observed that in municipalities where the local agents were sensitized with the waste issue, the units have operated properly