Natanne

Lixo, trabalho e saúde: um estudo de caso com catadores em um aterro metropolitano no Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Garbage, work, and health: a case study of garbage pickers at the metropolitan landfill in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1 Escola Nacional de Saúde
Pública, Fundação Oswaldo
Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
2 Instituto de Ciências da
Sociedade e Desenvolvimento
Regional, Universidade
Federal Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes, Brasil.
3 Secretaria Municipal do Bem-estar Social,
Prefeitura de Rio das Ostras,
Rio das Ostras, Brasil.
4 Núcleo de Estudos de Saúde
Coletiva, Universidade
Federal do Rio de Janeiro,
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
Cor respondênc ia
M. F. S. Porto
Centro de Estudos em Saúde do Trabalhador e Ecologia
Humana, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública,
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz.
Av. Leopoldo Bulhões 1480,
Rio de Janeiro, RJ
21041-210, Brasil. [e-mail] Marcelo Firpo de Souza Porto 1
Denise Chrysóstomo de Moura Juncá 2
Raquel de Souza Gonçalves 3
Maria Izabel de Freitas Filhote 4
Abstract
This article presents the results of a study on the lives, work, and health conditions of garbage pickers in the largest metropolitan landfill in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Using a semi-structured questionnaire with open-ended and closed questions, the study interviewed these individuals and developed a discussion of their daily lives, work, and health conditions. According to a quantitative-qualitative analysis, the garbage pickers identified garbage as a source of survival and defined health simply as the ability to work. They thus tended to neglect the relationship between work and health. However, the risks and reported morbidity highlighted the hazardous nature of this activity, aggravated by their living and housing conditions. Finally, the article emphasizes the importance of establishing public policies that integrate different dimensions of the problem, such as social inclusion, environmental preservation,