THE OBSTACLES OF INTERMUNICIPAL COOPERATION FOR THE SHARED MANAGEMENT OF URBAN SOLID WASTE IN HIGHLY INTEGRATED MUNICIPALITIES IN THE METROPOLITAN REGION OF NATAL/RN
Public consortia. National Solid Waste Policy. Metropolitan Region of Natal.
Population growth in urban areas, combined with a lifestyle based on unbridled consumption, has led to an increase in the generation of urban solid waste, which needs to be managed appropriately to reduce the negative impacts on nature and human health. Thus, instruments have been created to guide public administrations towards a model of appropriate management of urban solid waste. Solid waste management in Brazil is based on the National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS), established by Federal Law No. 12,305/2010, which has objectives, instruments and guidelines related to integrated and shared management, as well as solid waste management. Intermunicipal cooperation, in turn, is regulated by Federal Law No. 11,107/05, which establishes general rules for the Union, the States, the Federal District and the Municipalities to contract public consortia to achieve objectives of common interest. Despite the growing efforts of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, the existence of public consortia for urban waste management was not identified in the Metropolitan Region of Natal. Given this problem, this work engages in discussions about the difficulties in cooperation between federated entities, especially for the Integrated Management of Urban Solid Waste as established by the PNRS. The research focuses on the debate about the challenges of intermunicipal cooperation through public consortia. Thus, the following question arises: what are the main challenges for intermunicipal cooperation, through the creation of a public consortium for the Shared Management of Urban Solid Waste, among the highly integrated municipalities of the Metropolitan Region of Natal - RN? Therefore, the objective is to understand the factors that influence the lack of intermunicipal cooperation, for the shared and integrated management of urban solid waste, in the highly integrated municipalities of the Metropolitan Region of Natal - RN. The research is qualitative and is configured as a case study, carried out based on bibliographic and documentary works regarding secondary data, and the application of semi-structured interviews with selected actors, for the collection of primary data. In the end, the results pointed out what are the main obstacles to the establishment of public consortia, specifically, the consortia that operate in the management of urban solid waste in the spatial section studied.