One of the biggest problems of urban centers is the final disposal of waste, the capitalist system makes this situation worse. The separate collection and material recycling are among the principal solutions to this problem. This study aims to determine the quantity of collected materials from a separate collection company from the city of Uberlândia (MG) and to evaluate the environmental gains from this process. In the period 2001/2004, the activities carried out by the company were accompanied by the researcher, who also had access to the data registers regarding to the separation, classification and weight of recyclable materials. This data were used to calculate the potential savings in terms of energy and natural resources. In total, there were 4.727,74 t. of recyclable materials collected. The mean weight of aluminum deviated from the landfill was 8,22 t/year, this may provide a bauxite saving of 41,1 t. The mean weight of paper was 804,26 t/year, allowing a water saving of 19.571,63 thousand of liters. The mean weight of plastic was 369,51 t/year. We remind that plastics recycling provides saving of an important non-renewable resource: oil. The results indicate that the separate collection and materials recycling may offer significant economics and environmental gains to the city of Uberlândia.
waste; recycling; separate collection; environmental conservation
