by cbaillie | Sep 11, 2007 | argentina, cartoneros, cooperatives
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...
by cbaillie | Sep 9, 2007 | argentina, cartoneros
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...
by cbaillie | Sep 9, 2007 | argentina, cartoneros
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...
by cbaillie | Sep 9, 2007 | argentina, cartoneros
A visit to CEAMSE as described in the last post does not necessarily include a visit to the landfill. As we were not official visitors’ we had to use much persuasive power to get to the landfill itself. What CEAMSE did not want publicized is that the cartoneros still...
by cbaillie | Sep 9, 2007 | argentina, cartoneros
A visit to CEAMSE’s landfill Norte 111 involves a tour around three sorting plants. The evolution of the tour is in itself a fascinating psychological journey. We got into a small air conditioned bus with some business men in white shirts and a very different mission...
by cbaillie | Sep 4, 2007 | argentina, cartoneros
Today we took the City Office up on their offer to ‘come up anytime the light is on’ and asked more questions of Mariela, who is truly becoming our heroine. She knows so much and cares even more. I was interested to hear that cartoneros were commonly...
by efeinblatt | Sep 3, 2007 | argentina, partners
Shortly after arriving in Buenos Aires two months ago we met up with Dante Munoz and Carlos Levinton. They have tutored us in the politics of waste and the re-purposing of waste (as well as ceviche and milongas), and we have met with them at least once a week in the...
by cbaillie | Sep 3, 2007 | argentina, cartoneros
We have now been here for two months and I have the feeling that we are no longer wading into waters but though thick mud. I sometimes have no idea how to move or where to go next. I think this is an important feeling and I need to understand better what it means....
by cbaillie | Aug 17, 2007 | argentina
INTI (Instituto Nacional de Technologia Industrial) , a federal Government institution here in Buenos Aires, has some very intriguing functions. I would have imagined that it might be able to help us identify the location of a hotpress or advise us on other technical...
by cbaillie | Aug 16, 2007 | argentina, cartoneros
A meeting with the City Government office, specifically the research group of the Politicas de Reciclado Urbano, proved quite a remarkable surprise. From what we had heard both before and after our arrival, we imagined a meeting with some dusty, defensive bureaucrats...
