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 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 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...
by cbaillie | Aug 15, 2007 | argentina, cartoneros, cooperatives
Last week disappeared very quickly in a kaleidoscope of visits to all manner of extraordinary places outside the city. The first visit was to La Vallol where went to visit a ‘Barrios de Pie’ home building project. Except there were no building materials and so no work...
by cbaillie | Aug 2, 2007 | argentina, cartoneros
The question of who owns the waste is a constant theme here in Buenos Aires. It is clear that the residents are made aware that they dont own it once its put in the street. The private/public organisations that run the trucks to collect the waste believe they own it,...
by cbaillie | Aug 2, 2007 | argentina, cartoneros
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...
by cbaillie | Jul 30, 2007 | argentina, cartoneros
Ok so I thought I knew how to use the ‘Guia’ – the incredible bus route map for the whole of the city. I was getting impatient and decided that we had to meet with some more cartoneros. We had contacts and I decided to call them up despite my horrible Spanish. After...
