WHO SUSTAINS CIRCULARITY? THE INVISIBILIZATION OF WASTE PICKERS' LABOR IN THE PLASTIC VALUE CHAIN

Abstract

The growing environmental crisis associated with plastic waste highlights the limits of the linear model of production and consumption, based on intensive resource extraction and continuous disposal. In this context, recycling has been presented as a strategic solution for mitigating environmental impacts and promoting the transition toward a circular economy. However, the Brazilian reality reveals a profound gap between the circularity envisioned in corporate and public policy discourses and the one sustained, in practice, by the precarious labor of waste pickers. Grounded in Ecological Economics and Environmental Justice, this article analyzes the structural contradictions of the plastic value chain in Belo Horizonte, focusing on the invisibilization of labor that sustains the return of materials to the productive cycle. The methodology combined a literature review and field research, with systematic observation of sorting operations in recycling cooperatives and characterization of the reject fraction, totaling 4,422 classified items. The results show that the recyclability promoted by the productive sector does not fully translate into real recyclability: poor-quality packaging, polymer heterogeneity, contamination, and logistical limitations increase the volume of materials without economic value, transferring operational costs and environmental risks to the most vulnerable link in the chain. These findings confirm that, although environmentally necessary, recycling currently operates with low systemic efficiency and violates the principles of socio-environmental justice by reproducing historical inequalities and deepening the exploitation of those who sustain urban circularity. It is concluded that strengthening the circular economy depends on recognizing and valuing the environmental service provided by waste pickers, promoting innovation in product design, investing in adequate infrastructure, and developing regulatory and economic instruments aimed at inclusion, redistribution of power within the recycling chain, and mitigation of social and environmental externalities. The ecological transition, therefore, goes beyond the technological modernization of the waste market: it constitutes a political and social process that challenges market logic and will only become effective when the invisible labor at the base of the chain is acknowledged and fairly compensated.