O problema do lixo em comunidades rurais: uma experiência em educação ambiental no sítio Brandão, Cuité - PB.

Abstract

The accumulation of domestic waste in rural properties has been causing different types of impacts. The conversation with the residents/farmers is a form of environmental education that should favor the search for solutions appropriate to the local context, transforming the way of thinking and acting in front of the local environmental problems. The present study presents activities and analyzes of environmental education with farmers in the rural area of Cuité-PB of the community known as Sítio Brandão, on the subject of household waste treatment. The present research is descriptive and analytical, with a qualitative and quantitative approach, carried out from April to June 2018, based on the activities developed by the Social Organization for Sustainable Development and Capacity Building (ODESC - Organização Social para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável e Capacitação). The activities were divided into two phases, the first one was an analysis of elaborate questionnaires and the second consisted of the planning, realization and evaluation of meetings for lectures and conversations. From the speeches presented we saw that it is the farmers themselves who discard their waste, and the most viable way for them is the burning of inorganic wastes. It has been found that some farmers still make sustainable practices even without knowing what they are doing. We also identify as possible themes to be treated in the context of rural environmental education: the destination of electronic waste; the ingestion of garbage by native and farmed animals; advantages of composting versus the feeding of farm animals; problems arising from the burning of garbage and deposition in the open air. Here we conclude that environmental education is a valid tool to stimulate the incorporation of new attitudes regarding the management of household waste and to awaken in the subjects a critical look for the correct disposal of garbage and for the conservation of the environment, and that composting is an important technical alternative that needs and deserves to be more widespread.