Kitchen oil recycling networks used in São Paulo macro-Metropolis

Abstract

Objective: to analyze if the spatial distribution and the relationship of the main cooking oil waste collecting and processing companies in the Macrometropolis of Sao Paulo (MSP) support the characterization of their agglomeration as clusters or local productive arrangements (LPAs).

Methodology: the research is of a qualitative nature with an exploratory approach based on multiple case studies involving three companies from a current universe of fifteen associated to The Brazilian Association for Awareness, Collection and Recycling of Edible Oil (ECOLEO) that congregates the most important companies active in this segment in MSP. It was based on bibliographical research, documentary survey and interviews followed by triangulation of information.

Originality/Relevance: the analysis of the companies from the perspective of a cluster or a local productive arrangement allowed to verify how they are organized spatially in the MSP, as well as the relationship among them, aiming at suggesting governmental support for the optimization of its activities and the increase of income generation.

Results: the research showed that the elements of the agglomeration´s economy identified were not sufficient to say that the segment could be characterized as either a cluster or a local productive arrangement. It was concluded that the companies studied have little interaction with each other, each forming an isolated network of cooperation with a number of small oil waste suppliers which gravitates around them.

Theoretical Contributions: the contributions of the study highlights the identification of existing cooperation networks in the used cooking oil recycling segment and how its actors are organized and acting in MSP. It is also worth mentioning the expansion of the national literature on this theme that is an emerging one at the global level.