By looking at the driving and conflicting forces that permeate the self-adaptive and self-organizing actions of heterogeneous agents in social development projects (PDS), this study asks the question “How do PDS promote resilience in community-based companies focused on recycling through collective learning (CA)?". This is a collective case study, with qualitative and descriptive methods. It seeks to understand how different PDS promote resilience in Community Based Companies (EBC) aimed at recycling through CA. Data were collected using ethnographic techniques, and analyzed by interpretative textual analysis. The results indicate that CA allows recyclers to modify relationships established in the PDS, and to conceive EBC as a business, developing technical management skills and turning recycling into a cause by giving new meaning to social and economic relationships. In the cases studied, learning and resilience are never independent, but are linked to broader issues, such as the capacity for collective action. This study contributes to the understanding of the PDS as spaces for CA, enabling an analysis of the work of recyclers as an opportunity for resilience.