To resist or not to resist

One thing I had not anticipated when Waste for Life started in Buenos Aires, was the whole complication with market. Not that it hadn’t occurred to us – we knew within a few weeks that our preferred position – that of creating a bartering system – cartoneros producing...

The Phoenix of Lanzone

Renacer Lanzone or the Pheonix of the barrio Lazone is a social organisation run by Adam Guevara. Adam had an idea over twenty years ago, that CEAMSE should send the trucks to groups of cartoneros, before putting the garbage in the ground, so that they could take the...

Synchronicity

It seems to me that the conversations we are having now with cooperatives about our project are more detailed and to the point than they were when we arrived. Of course, you will say, because you now know more about what you are doing. But in fact, I haven’t noticed...

INTI

We recently developed links with Patricia Eisenberg’s group at the Plastics Department of INTI. Initially we hoped to be able to use the hotpress at INTI to try out some of the local materials but today we met Patricia and she was keen to move beyond this and to work...

So Many Hot Presses

Whilst our partner Darko works away in Canada to try to get funding for future work (to build more hot presses in Africa), here in Buenos Aires I try to understand his design and interpret it for the potential hot press manufacturers that I have been speaking to. Its...

Theatrical antics

After an aborted attempt two weeks ago to start our theatre group at Bajo Flores, we were very excited yesterday to meet five shy individuals who wanted to explore what we had to offer. We really had no idea what they had been told at the sorting unit but three women...

Urban Recoverers

Yesterday Maria Virginia welcomed us again into her home in Ituzaingo. I am not sure why it surprises me that life moves on so quickly for our Urban Recoverer friends. Virginia had mended her van and was about to sell all her current supplies of recyclables as she had...

Pressing on

Carlos Perini and his cooperative Avellenada was in a much healthier place this week when we visited. I wanted to make sure Carlos did not think we had forgotten him even though we still didn’t have any firm plans for a hotpress so we returned and met with several...

Reprocessing cooperatives

Two cooperatives funded by Working World, Etilplast and Villa Angelica are examples of small family coop organizations which buy waste plastic and reprocess it to add value to the chain. Villa Angelica has a yard full of waste and two machines which chop up the...