Selective waste collection in the city of São Paulo: urban public services under the neoliberal logic

Abstract The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of the neoliberal logic on São Paulo’s municipal selective waste collection program. The study analyzed a set of public hearings and events that discussed waste management in São Paulo to understand the discourses, views and actions undertaken by the actors that form the system. Results showed that the neoliberal logic has been present in the agenda of all the municipal administrations since the beginning of the selective collection program in the city, whether they assume center-right or center-left positions. The consequence of this is a tendency to make technocratic choices that, under the arguments of “modernity” and need for “technological solutions”, end up being centralized in technology, socially exclusionary, and inefficient.