The Transformative Politics of Labor and Extended Producer Responsibility Under Brazil’S National Solid Waste Policy
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Co-Opting Sustainabilities: The Transformative Politics of Labor and Extended Producer Responsibility Under Brazil’s National Solid Waste Policy By Talia Mestel Fox B.A. in Linguistics Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts (2013) Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in City Planning at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 2018 © 2018 Talia Mestel Fox. All Rights Reserved The author hereby grants to MIT the permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of the thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Author________________________________________________________________________ Department of Urban Studies and Planning May 24, 2018 Certified by____________________________________________________________________ Assistant Professor Gabriella Y. Carolini Department of Urban Studies and Planning Thesis Supervisor Accepted by___________________________________________________________________ Professor of the Practice, Ceasar McDowell Chair, MCP Committee Department of Urban Studies and Planning Co-Opting Sustainabilities: The Transformative Politics of Labor and Extended Producer Responsibility Under Brazil’s National Solid Waste Policy By Talia Mestel Fox Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning on May 24, 2018, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in City Planning Abstract Growing levels of global solid waste production implore society to identify the actors responsible for preventing, reducing, and disposing of wasted material in a sustainable manner. Extended producer responsibility (EPR) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are policy frameworks that hold accountable the manufacturers of goods that create post-consumer waste. National and state governments typically prescribe EPR through market mechanisms, performance standards, and disclosure requirements. CSR relies largely on voluntary programs that international bodies and corporations themselves establish to prevent or remediate socially and environmentally destructive behaviors. Responding to a paucity of research regarding adaptations of EPR to the global South, this thesis traces the origins and outcomes of the 2010 National Solid Waste Policy of Brazil (PNRS), which mandates EPR. I focus on a provision of the PNRS that prescribes CSR in fulfillment of EPR through partnerships between corporations and cooperatives of wastepickers: collectively-organized, self-employed individuals who separate, sort, and sell recyclable materials. Guiding this inquiry is a question regarding the implications of the interactions between the transnational sustainability frameworks of corporations and laborers. Through an analysis of the histories and realities of these interactions, I interrogate the dynamics that shape the structures of CSR programs and their evaluative tools under the PNRS, from the perspective of wastepickers. I assert that these CSR programs, while sources of technical and financial support for wastepickers, by design cannot actualize the concept of EPR because they fail to remunerate wastepickers as market actors. Furthermore, I demonstrate that by controlling the processes that assign and assess responsibility for waste management in Brazil, corporations have co-opted a sustainability discourse of labor that is intended to advance wastepickers’ own fight for fair pay, rights, and recognition. Key Words Waste management; municipal solid waste; sustainability; extended producer responsibility, Brazil, waste picker; corporate social responsibility, labor, evidence-based policy. Thesis Supervisor: Gabriella Carolini Title: Assistant Professor 2 Acknowledgments Quando a gente põe o pé no lixo, a gente não sai nunca mais. “Once we stick a foot in waste, we never leave again.” I am enthusiastically accepting of the fact that this popular saying among Brazilian waste researchers and advocates may in fact apply to me. I never would have stepped into any of this, however, if not for the encouragement and support of the many people mentioned and unmentioned on this page. Thank you: to Gabriella Carolini, an advisor, teacher, and mentor, for your thoughtful and comprehensive guidance, whole-hearted commitment to students’ development, and humanity, which enhances learning by grounding it in the experience of living; to Libby McDonald, for imparting on me your passion for the humans of waste, opening the doors that would lead to this research in the fall of 2016, boldly throwing me into the challenge of fieldwork; and trusting me to navigate my way through the political, social, and linguistic complexities that accompany it; to Sonia Maria Dias and Ana Carolina Ogando, for receiving me in Belo Horizonte and orienting me to the struggles and triumphs of informal economies in Brazil, facilitating crucial conversations, and reminding me to give back to the communities that give to us; to Guilherme Fonseca, for entertaining my many requests to explain the solidarity economy, wastepicker networks, rotating funds, and copious gíria; to the staff of INSEA, for your insights into the role of the advocate researcher in Brazil’s waste system, and for letting me camp out in your offices intermittently; to the staff of Novo Ciclo, for accompanying a person you had never met on long drives to various cities, sharing your honest opinions, and pursuing improvements to lives through your work; to Gina Rizpah Besen, for a single illuminating conversation that helped frame my critique; to the many individuals I spoke with, particularly wastepickers, for sharing your wisdom, time, trust, patience with my Portuguese, and unwavering spirit; to my friends in Belo Horizonte, for welcoming me into your circles and exploring the city with me, and showing me that Brazil could feel like more than a thing that happened to me that one time. to Rosabelli Coelho-Keyssar, for cheerful conversations in Portuguese and the flexibility that enabled me to craft the ideal summer for an indecisive mind; to MISTI Brazil and the PKG Public Service Center, for funding my travel to Brazil; to Kate Mytty and Jenny Hiser, waste gurus and instructors of the fall 2016 iteration of D-Lab Waste, for providing my introduction to the multifaceted world of waste through the eyes of planners and enabling me to connect it to my love for Brazil; to Foster Brown and Vera Reis, for solidifying my love for Brazil, for inviting me into your lives in a remote Amazonian city in the center of the universe in 2013; for building a home that became my sanctuary; for showing me how to confront the jaguars of life; and for preparing me to take care of others; to my fellow DUSPers, for contributing to many transformative and joyful months; to Rebecca Margolies, for your loyalty and wit, and for inspiring me to act on my values; to Tamara Knox, Laura Krull, and Martin the parrot, for creating a “nice soft home with good friends” that rejuvenates, comforts, and lifts me; to my family—Mom, Dad, Leora, Sam, Ari, and Ned, for staying close and carrying me, always; and to Eric Huntley, for a growing list of reasons. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... 2 Key Words ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................... 3 Acronyms ....................................................................................................................................... 6 1. INTRODUCTION: DREAMS, DEMANDS, AND DOUBTS............................................... 9 Multiplicative Sustainabilities ............................................................................................................. 10 Research Goals and Questions ............................................................................................................ 11 Thesis Statement ................................................................................................................................... 12 Organization.......................................................................................................................................... 12 Waste Governance: Who is Responsible? .......................................................................................... 13 Wastepickers ..................................................................................................................................... 13 Municipalities ................................................................................................................................... 15 Corporations ..................................................................................................................................... 16 Case Selection ........................................................................................................................................ 18 Analytical Framework: Transnational Alliances .............................................................................. 18 Methodology .......................................................................................................................................... 20 Limitations ...........................................................................................................................................