The text aims to bring legal reflections on the use of recycling cooperatives in the management of solid waste as an instrument for the realization of personality rights. Considering that the Brazilian legal system advocates the promotion of human dignity, it appears that recycling cooperatives can be an important instrument for accessing freedom, health, food and other rights, as they are capable of enabling the individual's emancipation. Based on Amartya Sen's theoretical premises, the research carried out a systematic literature review, addressing research that portrayed the benefits and challenges of recycling cooperatives in Brazil and in other countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Indonesia, Vietnam and others. With the results of this review, inductive conclusions were drawn in the sense of recognizing the environmental and social importance of cooperatives and suggesting the effective implementation of Reverse Logistics as a tool that seeks to overcome the challenges reported in the literature