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How a Brazilian City is Pioneering the Circular Economy: A Partnership Between Delterra and Recicleiros
January 23, 2025

Summary

Delterra and Recicleiros are collaborating to implement innovative approaches in Brazil to bring significant improvements to recycling participation and recovery rates. In the context of the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, this public-private partnership in the city of Guaxupé, Brazil, is an example of how cities in the Global South can build the capacity for sustainable waste management systems.

The city of Guaxupé, renowned for its high-quality coffee production, has been gaining recognition in recent years for its advances in solid waste management and circular economy practices. More recently, a collaborative project between Delterra and Recicleiros is further highlighting the transformation of recycling habits within the community.

A Strategic Partnership for Sustainable Impact

Recicleiros, a prominent organization in Brazil’s recycling sector, brings years of experience and a deep understanding of local contexts to the partnership. Renowned for its commitment to environmental sustainability, Recicleiros has been instrumental in fostering community engagement and supporting cooperative networks across Brazil, including in the city of Guaxupé. Their knowledge and presence on the ground make them an invaluable partner, enhancing the effectiveness of the project with tailored strategies and a trusted approach.

Delterra is a global non-profit that works to reduce waste and maximize the material put back into productive use, including plastics and organics. Their programs work across the value chain including with cities to build waste management and recycling systems that increase the quality and quantity of waste recovered, and with companies to build markets, unlock processing capacity and demand and make value chains more efficient, transparent and ethical. Through this collaboration, Delterra has adapted its proven behavior change model—developed in Argentina and Indonesia—to Brazil’s unique cultural and social landscape.

Together, Delterra and Recicleiros, with the support of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, are creating sustainable recycling systems with local insights at their core, ensuring a positive long-term impact.

Guaxupé cooperative
Guaxupé cooperative

 

Understanding Cultural Drivers for Change

The project launched with an intensive research phase involving the community. Residents representing both recyclers and non-recyclers were interviewed individually or in focus groups, with the primary goal of understanding the cultural drivers behind recycling behavior in Guaxupé. The insights revealed the importance of framing recycling as a collective civic duty, while also highlighting the social aspect of the service – which not only benefits the environment but also supports the workers of the Recicla Guaxupé waste cooperative. This led to the launch of the “Separa +” (Separate +) program, which emphasizes the idea that each individual’s efforts contribute to a healthier community.



 

Building a Blueprint for Success

After socializing the unique insights highlighted by the research with the local population, Delterra and Recicleiros quickly developed a behavior change plan aimed at expanding the initiative citywide within one year, starting with a pilot to test the approach. The local government was also involved in the development of these strategies, which increased the technical feasibility of the project. This co-creation process ensured that all interventions were relevant to the community. In practice, the approach to generating engagement and participation combined door-to-door interactions, digital and mass communication, and a chatbot to guide residents through the recycling process.

Teams from the Recicla Guaxupé Cooperative, City Hall, Delterra, and Recicleiros working on the plan.
Teams from the Recicla Guaxupé Cooperative, City Hall, Delterra, and
Recicleiros working on the plan.

 

Empowering Local Change-Makers

A key differentiator of the project was its integration with Guaxupé’s dengue prevention campaign. By working with healthcare agents who already conduct regular home visits as part of their duties, it was possible to link recycling to public health, further encouraging community participation. This was made possible by the excellent door-opening rates and the trust-based relationships these agents had already established with the residents they served.

Cooperative members of Recicla Guaxupé—ready for activation.
Cooperative members of Recicla Guaxupé—ready for activation.

At the same time, the local cooperative, of Recicla Guaxupé, continued their education efforts at homes and businesses, as they had been doing consistently since the launch of source separated waste collection in the city in 2020.

By bringing together these disparate efforts, this innovative partnership maximized resources and created a unified message that recycling provides both environmental and public health benefits for the entire community.

Early Success and Lasting Impact

The pilot phase, conducted in one of the municipality’s ten collection sectors, delivered remarkable outcomes, underscoring the efficacy of the collaboration between Delterra and Recicleiros. During an eight-week monitoring period within the designated micro-territory, the following results were observed:

● The participation rate in this area (measured by the quantity of materials collected relative to the potential waste generation) peaked at a level 3.5 times higher than the pre-activation period.
● A 33% increase was observed in the number of households separating recyclable materials for collection at designated disposal points.

While these preliminary results are very positive, both Delterra and Recicleiros will be monitoring participation over time to confirm systemic and lasting change. The final conclusions will be presented next year.

Together, Delterra and Recicleiros have not only improved recycling rates in the short-term but also continue to explore models to ensure that the changes are systemic and long-lasting. . By leveraging each organization’s strengths, this partnership is creating a model that can be replicated in other communities across Brazil to achieve success in waste recycling.

Call to Action: Support Community-Centered Solutions for Sustainable Waste Management in the Global Plastics Treaty

As the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations continue, the world needs a commitment to innovative, community-driven solutions like the Delterra and Recicleiros partnership in Guaxupé, Brazil. This initiative highlights the potential of locally rooted, culturally tailored approaches to drive lasting change in waste management.


About Delterra and Recicleiros

Instituto Recicleiros is a non-profit civil society organization founded in 2006, serving as a key facilitator among public administrators, companies, waste pickers, and society in addressing socio-environmental issues. Among its initiatives, Recicleiros focuses on establishing and incubating cooperatives—encompassing operations, administration, and management—with the goal of training waste pickers to become skilled collective entrepreneurs organized into cooperatives, fostering the sustainable development of their businesses. Currently, through the Recicleiros Cities Program, the institute operates in 12 municipalities across all five regions of Brazil.

Delterra is a global environmental nonprofit that designs and develops innovative and scalable solutions to tackle the world’s most complex environmental challenges – on the ground and at scale. Delterra is working with cities, communities and the private sector in Brazil, Argentina and Indonesia to transform recycling and waste management systems, effectively improving environmental outcomes and boosting circularity while
benefiting health, livelihoods and the economy.


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