BETWEEN DISPOSAL AND DIGNITY: THE CHALLENGES OF URBAN SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN MANAUS IN LIGHT OF THE NATIONAL SOLID WASTE POLICY

Abstract

Urban solid waste management is a particularly sensitive environmental, legal, and social issue in Manaus, an Amazonian metropolis whose urban expansion is intertwined with an extensive network of streams and the Negro River. This article analyzes the effectiveness of Brazil’s National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS) in the municipality by comparing the guidelines established by Law No. 12,305/2010 and its implementing regulations with documentary and bibliographic evidence concerning final disposal, selective collection, reverse logistics, waste in water bodies, and the participation of waste pickers. The study adopts a qualitative, bibliographic, and documentary research design, using the deductive method and an analytical-comparative procedure. The findings show that Manaus has relevant regulatory instruments and operational initiatives, yet remains characterized by a high dependence on landfilling, the persistent presence of waste in urban streams, the need to expand the recovery of recyclable materials, and coordination challenges involving public authorities, the business sector, consumers, and waste-picker organizations. Municipal technical data for 2024 indicate a strong predominance of landfilling, while administrative records for 2025 show that large volumes of waste continue to be removed from urban watercourses. The article concludes that the effectiveness of the PNRS in Manaus cannot be assessed solely by collection capacity: it requires waste-generation reduction, material recovery, reverse logistics, the socioeconomic inclusion of waste pickers, prevention of disposal into water bodies, and governance capable of translating legal commands into measurable environmental outcomes. In this sense, waste management reaches the material dimension of human dignity because it directly affects health, environmental quality, and urban living conditions.