Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Cities are highly resource consuming, which causes environmental pressure and consequently negative impacts on the environment. Smaller municipalities have a significant challenge in management; since they are the majority in Brazil. The objective of this study is to analyze the environmental impacts, which include the consumption of energy and emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), from the small municipalities of the state of São Paulo. The study also creates a classification of cities —using multiple indicators—and lists the management practices of the best-ranked cities. The five stages of this study are: phase 1. selection of municipalities; phase 2. data collection (inputs); phase 3. application of Waste Reduction Model; phase 4. analysis of results (outputs); phase 5. construction of the multiple indicator and comparison between municipalities. The results show that waste generation averaged 223.89kg (inhabitant-1 year-1), the emissions of CO2e averaged 0.166 tons (inhabitant-1 year-1), the consumption of energy was an average of - 51.37 kWh (inhabitant-1 year-1)—the negative value indicates energy savings—and the Waste Quality Index related to the landfill averaged 8.63, with most of the final destination sites meeting suitable conditions for landfill. After the composition of the multiple indicators, the best municipalities were carefully analyzed to identify their actions. We highlight the city of Ribeirão Grande/SP, although it has a landfill with 7.4 points (WQI), has a great recycling program. The results of the indicators and the best practices can guide the decisions of each small municipality towards the improvement of more sustainable waste management.