This is the number of households in Morón, the Buenos Aires suburb, from which members of cooperativa Nueva Mente collect the weekly rubbish that they then separate, sort, and sell to recycling middlemen. Until about 1 month ago this figure described a daily routine, but then it occurred to us that it also represented a built-in marketplace, which has always been the most elusive and fickle dimension of WFL. And so the Contenido Prensado youth group prepared a survey for these 4500 households to get a better picture of their daily consumption and disposal routines. Below is a first sketch of the translation of that survey into a product that mutually benefits the families of Morón and the cooperative.
sketch of a domestic recycling bin
Erica Lee, engineer and WFL project manager in Buenos Aires for 5 1/2 months during 2010-2011, has written a wonderful article reflecting upon the experience for the Ontario Centre for Engineering and Public Policy.
As a volunteer project manager for educational non-profit organization Waste for Life,
Erica Lee oversaw the implementation of a simple manufacturing process in a recycling
co-operative in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The project’s most important deliverables
were non-technical: social inclusion, democratization of knowledge, and access to the
ability to alleviate poverty through strategic use of technology and entrepreneurship.
You can read/download the entire article by clicking on the link below.
Engineering for social inclusion in Buenos Aires
While the Nueva Mente/Contenido Prensado group in Buenos Aires have been investigating new markets and designs for their trashbins – including domestic and industrial indoor models – Sarah Seitz, at Queens University, has been experimenting with building materials and has produced an entire water catchment system from waste vapor barrier plastic reinforced with cheese cloth. The results have been impressive so far, and we are testing the durability of the gutters, downspouts, and rain barrels over the course of a Canadian winter. So far the gutters, which are the weakest link in the chain, have fared well – exhibiting no signs of delamination or uv deterioration after exposure to cycles of rain, snow, sunshine, and freeze.
Waste for Life is a loosely joined network of scientists, engineers, educators, designers, and cooperatives working together to develop poverty-reducing solutions to specific ecological problems. 