Social Life Cycle Assessment in Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems with Contribution of Waste Pickers: Literature Review and Proposals for New Studies

Since the publication of the Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) of Products by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) in 2009, there has been an increase in publications and research using this tool to assess the positive or negative social impacts of products and services. This can be done by assessing all processes in the material supply chain, thereby identifying and quantifying the respective social impacts to inform decision makers. Because raw materials can come from different countries, some production processes may use recyclable or reusable materials handled by waste pickers in order to return them to the production chain. Since these waste pickers earn their living from collecting and selling these materials, the social impacts of the final product integrate the social evaluation results of the processes involving these materials. Thus, this article aims to survey the characteristics of current S-LCA models applied to Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems (MSWMS) that include waste pickers and their organizations, in order to identify research opportunities to expand the understanding and application of this tool. In this study, 33 articles were selected, using a systematic review methodology. Analyzing these articles has revealed possible paths to improve the choice of elements for S-LCA models applied to MSWMS that involve waste pickers or equivalents.

Automated summary

Since the publication of the Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) of Products by UNEP and SETAC in 2009, there has been an increase in research and publications using this tool to assess the social impacts of products and services. This article aims to survey current S-LCA models applied to MSWMS involving waste pickers and their organizations, in order to identify opportunities for research to expand the understanding and application of this tool. The analysis of selected articles reveals paths for improving the elements chosen for S-LCA models applied to MSWMS involving waste pickers.