Lessons learned on recycling of solid waste program ‘USP RECICLA’ of Sao Carlos, Brazil

Currently there is an awareness of the negative externalities of poor management of natural resources and its consequences to both present and future generations. Environmental management and technological development have advanced to provide the continued fulfillment of the economic, social and environmental well being to the world society. In many organizations, learnings coming from the establishment of environmental management systems are quickly growing up in importance. Environmental management has also been introduced in higher education institutions allowing reduction of natural resoure use. In this regard, environmental education has played an important role in raising public awareness on recycling of solid wastes in academia. This research refers to a case study on ongoing project named Recycle USP undertaken in the Sao Carlos campus of Sao Paulo University. Based on a literature review and interviews carried out with 13 program participants, the research identified lessons learned by their managers to be presented to the academic community. These lessons are considered to be important for the implementation of recycling programs in other higher education institutions in Brazil and abroad. It is possible to anticipate that the main lessons learned relate to communication, stakeholder engagement, proactivity of the manager in promoting synergy among participants, enhancement of collective learning, and dissemination of information about the program.