Armed Robbery

We’ve previously written about the fragility of recycling cooperatives, always on the cusp of economic insolvency because of equipment breakdowns, or fires, or market fluctuations in the price of recyclables, or family illnesses, even sabotage – and the...

Back to the Beginning

So with the ordering of Hotpress #5 here in Buenos Aires and the departure of two-thirds of the core team of Waste for Life, a natural ending and celebration point has been reached. We are thrilled with the progress we have made so far. But we don’t have long to...

Closing the Circle

Shortly after arriving in Buenos Aires in June 2007, we visited Carlos Perini at the Cooperativa de Trabajo Avellaneda Limitada (https://www.wasteforlife.org/?p=19). Technically, this is not a cartonero cooperative, but is instead a sort of low level middleman, buying...

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...

Variations

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...