Influence of the expansion of the selective collection in the sorting infrastructure of waste pickers' organizations: A case study of 16 Brazilian cities

•Estimate recyclable waste fraction was 32.6% from municipal solid waste.•Investment of US$2.5 million is necessary to improve current structure.•Pickers organizations are able only to forward 18.53% of the recyclable waste.•82% of pickers organizations studied have low efficacy.•Lack of recycling companies in study area increase transportation costs. Although recycling is a viable alternative to minimizing the impacts of the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), identification of the local recycling market is a requirement for its empowerment. This paper aims to assess the recyclable solid waste market in 16 cities of Brazil. Through the application of interviews, field research and secondary data collection this research observed that while relying on poor infrastructure and on Government subsidies, the 12 pickers organizations surveyed can deliver 18.53% of recyclable waste to recycling with an average sorting productivity of 109 kg/picker/day and average earnings of US$ 293.40/picker/month. Based on the validated methods, 17% of these organizations were classified as having average efficiency, whereas 82% of them operated with very low efficiency. The investment required for the adequacy and expansion of the sorting capacity of waste pickers’ organizations has been estimated at US$ 2.5 M, which could be counterbalanced by the savings with the current US$ 2 M/year spent with the disposal of recyclable waste into landfills. We also estimate new 189 job openings in the pickers’ organizations to meet the requirements of the proposed scenario, contrasting with the current 93 cooperative members currently formalized. Regarding the consumer market, only few recycling companies were identified in the region, which may justify the low price paid for waste. The market for recyclables is mostly composed of micro and small companies that generally carry out the collection, transportation, sorting, and commercialization.