Solid waste management in coastal cities: Where are the gaps? Case study of the North Coast of São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Coastal cities are surrounded by important but fragile ecosystems that are under pressure from population growth, tourism and large commercial enterprises. These factors contribute to a complex solid waste management situation, which is exacerbated by lack of planning and sanitation infrastructure, common factors in cities in developing countries. The municipalities of the North Coast of São Paulo State were used as study cases to analyze public policies for solid waste management in the coastal zone, with wide seasonal variations in population and solid waste production. The analysis included planning, implementation, performance indicators and future prospects. The results revealed that some key issues that are critical to the development and improvement of solid waste management in these cities must be considered: (1) the main focus of the plans and future prospects is landfills; (2) only a few of the outputs and outcome indicators are related to MSW; (3) recycling is not well implemented; and (4) no indicators of the amount of waste recycled are established. Solid waste management in these municipalities should be strategically reframed in order to adopt more-sustainable alternatives for waste treatment, with outputs and outcome indicators to evaluate policy implementation. In addition, citizen (residents and tourists) should be encouraged in monitoring and implementing these policies.