It’s been almost exactly three years since we visited the recovered metallurgic factory, Cooperativa de Trabajo ’19 de diciembre’, and spoke with Enrique Iriarte about a possible niche side business: manufacturing hotpresses for the recycling cooperatives that choose to give composite manufacturing a go. (https://www.wasteforlife.org/?p=41) This was in October, 2007. We were looking ahead at a vague future for our project, and the idea that we could actually bring a recovered factory into the mix was more of an idealistic pipe dream on our part than a realistic assessment of possibilities. Except …. that it’s happening! In an earlier post (https://www.wasteforlife.org/?p=789) we mentioned the serendipity that brought Salvador, a UBA industrial design student and member of the 19 de diciembre cooperative, into the Waste for Life orbit. And yesterday we met with Enrique and Salvador to go over design improvements, a budget, maintenance contract and delivery schedule for a new hotpress, which should be in the hands of Maria Virginia Pimentel’s cooperative in Moron within three weeks. What can I say? Pretty exceptionally exciting. Perseverance furthers….

salvador, caroline, erica, and enrique at cooperativa de trabajo 19 de diciembre