Socio-environmental issues involved in furniture industries of the social pole of Votuporanga-SP

Abstract

With the aim to contribute to the understanding of the reasons that encourage, impede and/or allow the incorporation of environmental actions in industries, this article analyzes a productive segment of the furniture sector, taking as a case the study of the furniture hub of Votuporanga-SP. From the methodological point of view, the strategy was a case study, with collect qualitative information and two combined subgroups of interest: firm size and type of product. Local institutions that participate in the development and supervision of the furniture sector were investigated. The results of the survey confirmed that the actions of environmental responsibility developed by industries are more related to workplace safety. The survey also showed the poor performance of local institutions which do little to encourage these actions. It also showed that the lack of supervision has contributed to the perpetuation of a culture highly unfavourable to the development of environmental actions.