I found it interesting because it shows the reality for those unfamiliar with Diadema, and Sao Bernardo do Campo. . . . It is interesting to draw people’s attention. . . . People put their waste at their home door and think it will go away on its own. There is a whole work towards the environmental awareness of people that is important. People say ‘lixeiro’ (garbage man), stigmatizing the collectors, but I say, I’m lixeiro, I am the one who produces it. . . . The catadores are environmental agents who collaborate. . . . What’s cool here and in other places I visited [cited Bogota and Buenos Aires], is that the
Tremblay
catadore/as are the ones who speak, are prepared, represent. . . . It is important to think about this consciousness.
Video can provide an opportunity to shed light on local knowl- edge and understanding of the reality of the community. It is an excellent learning tool for government agents, who are typically not in direct contact with these groups. In December 2010, another representative of the municipal government of Diadema said
I think the first is to show the reality of Diadema, because the images sometimes speak louder than words, for even a representative, for example, [a member] will talk about the network or Cooperlimpa, when you have a video, you register the image of the entire process.
The focus groups enabled a ‘two-way’ form of communication, where the catadore/as initiated the conversations and, in one case, provided a more accurate picture of the process at the cooperative. During the focus group in Ribera ̃o Pires, for example, a catadora from Cooperpires highlighted that the cooperative actually separates 30–35 t per month, which is a significant amount more then the perceived 15 t that the govern- ment had indicated. This discussion was valuable in that it made a clear distinction between what the government had initially assumed and was indicated as one of the reasons why it could not more fully support the cooperative, given the small amount of material processed compared to other more estab- lished waste management companies. The discussion then flowed into what some of the main barriers are for expanding pro- duction and meeting higher targets. The representative from Cooperpires explained that a lot of material is not clean and then has to be discarded, producing a huge discrepancy between the amount collected and processed.
Another example where communication was strengthened was in the city of Diadema, where the municipal government revealed significant budget restraints for expanding the support for collec- tive waste collection with recycling cooperatives. During the focus group meeting, it was suggested by the government repre- sentatives that the video be used to place pressure at state level to increase the budget in this area of the sector.
In all three case studies, the governments all supported the use of the videos as tools for communicating with other government departments and the business sector and for public educational programmes. Overall, the government responses to the videos were positive and sympathetic, despite some of the challenges associated with political agendas and bureaucratic ties (i.e. budget constraints). In each case, there was genuine interest in working with the cooperatives and to strengthen their partici- pation and capacity in recycling services. A government repre- sentative from Diadema highlighted the importance of strengthening dialogue with cooperatives and recognised the process as a ‘two-way’ negotiation.