Today we went to the Bajo Flores recycling centre in another very poor barrio. The collective here has developed a separation plant – the first of four planned in Buenos Aires, where the members buy waste, delivered to them in trucks (which sometimes arrive at their destination), and separate it manually with the aid of a large conveyor belt system which enables them to separate plastic from glass and bottles from bags. The system is a standard design which I have seen operating in the UK and Canada, and waste is further squashed into large cube shaped bales for selling on to the next in the chain. The equipment was apparently bought for the group by the City Government, who also provided the warehouse. This is an interesting system. The City Government, for the price of a warehouse and two pieces of equipment, gets much waste processed. No labour cost – as it is self run, except for a small subsidy to keep the peace. Is this the Government shirking their responsibility? In the UK, US and Canada we expect the Government to pay the salaries of our recycling workers. However, members of these self run units are seemingly content to be their own bosses and fear that changes in the administration may mean they lose their livelihoods.
The most amazing thing for me is that people here seem to work together so well. We noticed this when we met the recovered workers. We were told that this was because they have become used to a lack of administrative support over so many years of loss and betrayal, that they have had to learn to support each other. Im not sure if this can be the only reason but we have felt privileged to work amongst these committed teams. Our host today, Silvia Rossi, another member of the University CEP, is, like many of the group, a self employed architect who works with the centre pro bono one day a week, and does many projects like this one in Bajo Flores in her own time. It was she who persuaded them to get the warehouse and equipment to get themselves started. She tirelessly supports them on a weekly basis. I will bring more than memories back from this project.