Aspectos socioambientais relacionados ao trabalho e à saúde dos catadores de materiais recicláveis das cooperativas de Natal-RN

Abstract

The capitalist economic model based on consumption and economic growthhas led to the generation of large volume of solid waste, that gave rise to theactivity of recyclable waste picker. The objective of this study was to evaluatesome environmental and social risks and their repercussion on the health ofrecyclable waste pickers from Natal-RN cooperatives. An instrument wasapplied with questions about socioeconomic, environmental and health aspectsof the collectors. The results showed that housing conditions related to graywater disposal were significantly associated with the frequency of diarrhea(p=0.04). The availability of PPE was considered insufficient and should beassociated with a frequency of 38.6% of cut-type accidents. The most frequentlyreported diseases were headache, spinal problems, vision problems, diarrheaand varicose veins, with respective frequencies of 71.0%; 67.1%; 37.7%; 34.3%and 24.3%. The vision and spinal problems and varicose veins were significantly more frequent in women than in men (p=0.02, p=0.03 e p=0.001,respectively). The unhealthy conditions of this activity, predispose to theappearance and / or worsening of health problems of these workers