Waste management in the Amazon and the conceptual innovation of sustainability

This study deals with the management of household waste in a municipal base in Brazil's Amazon region that did not implement selective collection. The aim is to study waste management produced in households, focusing on the reduction for urban development through the conceptual innovation of sustainability. The specific goals of this project are: (1) to identify if the residents consider it important to properly dispose of household waste, (2) to assess how much they know about the selective collection and where household waste goes; (3) to propose conceptual innovation in managing solid residues and sustainability. It is an exploratory descriptive research, with the field study of mixed nature, presenting qualitative and quantitative results. The consulted population of the lower middle class was chosen by sampling. The proposal is to analyze the answers collected to identify the ability of individuals to break environmental paradigms guided by the awareness of actions and innovative behavior in the face of the problem studied and based on the U Theory, proposing concept innovations on global sustainability. The result shows the inadequate management of household solid waste because residents do not comply with the principles of sustainability. The analysis allows bringing the conceptual innovation of environmental, economic and social sustainability, breaking old concepts and proposing the shared management of household waste. The actions indicated in this research would enable entrepreneurs to optimize the environmental development allied to the social and economic sustainability in the Amazon. This work can benefit business owners, governments and society in general. © 2019 Widener University School of Civil Engineering. All rights reserved.