Ética e sustentabilidade empresarial: uma análise a partir da percepção de gestores sobre o modelo de produção Upcycling

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze ethics and sustainability from the perception of managers about the Upcycling production model. Using this model, companies transform waste into new products, creating a new life cycle with greater added value, within the precepts of the circular economy. The theoretical framework discusses ethics in organizations and the concepts of Sustainability, Circular Economy (CE) and Upcycling were described. The research is qualitative, whose method chosen was the case study in an exploratory format. For data collection, semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis of three small companies that adopt the model as a means of production were carried out. The results indicated that upcycling is a niche and the companies perceive it as a competitive advantage and aim at profitability, within the hegemonic logic of capital. In the environmental dimension, the model was seen as an innovative alternative for companies to minimize or cancel their impacts on the environment, but it requires a systemic development in the market for its expansion. In relation to ethical precepts, upcycling largely overcomes the formatting of production, development and progress as soon as it incorporates a new logic that reduces or cancels out environmental impacts. In this sense, it also requires personal and individual movements so that the means of production are conceived through the ethical relationship between humansand the planet. Considering that upcycling is still underdeveloped in Brazil, the analysis contributed to broadening investigations into the model.