To start something big and great, you don’t always have to write a long business plan and carefully study the market. The best ideas are often around us, waiting desperately to be picked up and utilised.

Friends Ana Luz and Julieta went backpacking for one year around Latin America in 2010, like thousands of other young people. But instead of taking pictures and hanging out at the beach, these two girls wanted to find a project that would connect all their interests and passions at once. It was an easy task, and very soon, Julieta and Ana Luz found what they were looking for. Garbage was all around them, wherever they travelled.

“We were spending an afternoon on a beautiful beach in Venezuela. At one point I gathered a few plastic bags and started cutting them. In about five minutes I got a lot of material for sewing,” Ana Luz recalls the travel experience that changed her life. Later, in Ecuador, both friends began collecting all the items they would normally throw away. And surprisingly, that small investment was enough to source the first materials for their new business back in Argentina.

Handbags made from plastic bags. (Courtesy of Feriado)

The inspiring trip gave a name to their new, promising project. Feriado, Amor al Reciclado is now a successful and dynamic start-up with three main objectives: 1 – forming a new attitude towards garbage and its aesthetic role in production; 2 – generating awareness of new ecological culture, that includes an active and responsible attitude; 3 – creating a new tool to recycle and transform garbage into art.

Both innovative entrepreneurs actively work on expanding their business, learning new techniques, and producing great pieces of art. Among them are accessories for women, creative design materials, decorations, and others.

During their trip, Julieta and Ana Luz managed to learn from other professionals in their area and learn best practices. Once they got their hands-on experience, they found out the importance of sharing their know-how and opened courses in recycling and reproducing materials.

“Before we teach people to do things, we want to make sure they are worth the effort,” says Ana Luz after hosting a workshop at the recent FestEco event in Buenos Aires. Feriado, Amor al Reciclado is present at all important festivals and exhibitions related to ecology and environment.

Feriado teaching workshop for schoolchildren. (Courtesy of Feriado)

Every course opens with a theoretical introduction, where the girls share facts about consumption and recycling, and educate on some basic methods to re-use the garbage. “We relate garbage with something dirty and useless,” Ana Luz starts her speech at a special workshop on plastic bags. She opens a huge trunk with an infinite number of bags of all sizes and brands. “We see cartoneros in the streets and think, ‘they are doing the worst job ever’. But we forget that garbage is a great business too.” Ana Luz distributes the tiny plastic bags and scissors to all participants. In only two or three minutes everybody has a long string that used to be a plastic bag. “Imagine, the average lifecycle of a supermarket bag is 20 minutes. This is the time you spend between buying your products and getting home. It doesn’t make any sense!”

Ana Luz is a proponent of responsible consumption and believes all products are 100% recyclable. The challenge is how to recycle them smartly and give them a second life. “The idea of our courses is not to make people consume less. This question is pretty complex and advertising has a great influence on it. What we want to achieve is to manage resources in a better way and to see an opportunity where others see only garbage.”

Julieta and Ana Luz are only 24, however, their energy and passion for the project ensures a great impact on the society they are part of. Their desire is to expand all over Latin America and educate more and more people, as a payback to their trip over two years ago. So far they are on a very good track, and they seem to make magic out of something so trivial and unwanted –garbage.

For more information about the project and workshops, please visit their webpage www.feriadoamoralreciclado.com

Garbage pick-up will not resume today as the CEAMSE recycling stations continue to be blocked by workers since Sunday.

The city government is asking the CEAMSE union (AGOEC) to use its “rationality” in the issue.

The secretary general of the AGOEC Jorge Mancini, explained that the reclamation of the plants is the “final alternative” before the “imminent collapse” of the sanitation sites.

The blocks come in part of a waste-refuse feud between the city and the province. On Saturday, the province of Buenos Aires, where the landfill and recycling sites are located, told the city that it had to 30 days to reduce the amount of waste coming in from the centre. Workers predict that if waste is not reduced, that the Jose Leon Suarez landfill will collapse by March 2013. This site is estimated to already be between 150 to 160 hectares.

However, the city governor said that reducing waste by 50% within the next 30 days is “completely near impossible”.

Workers also feel that the city has not fulfilled the Zero Waste Act of 2005.

“The situation is worrying because they have not realized the [2005 law] and the provincial law to reduce the volume of refuse,” stated Mancini.

Recently, Mayor Macri welcomed Greenpeace’s “Rainbow Warrior” ship and was urged by the interest group to enforce the Zero Waste Act.

The minister of the environment, Diego Santilli, has tweeted “They have continued to block CEAMSE … Please do not take out the garbage”.

This week’s feature article investigates initiatives that are promising to generate green energy from rubbish. As one of the most visible problems on the streets of Buenos Aires, garbage is an issue generating a lot of debate.

The Indy took to the streets to ask porteños (and visiting Latin Americans) what they thought of the garbage situation in Buenos Aires and if they felt it could be resolved with greener garbage initiatives.

Portraits by Beatrice Murch

Gisele Teixeira, 42, Sao Paulo, Brazil

The garbage situation in Buenos Aires is very bad.  For me it is the problem of Buenos Aires. This is the fault of a lack of environmental education and initiative from the government. The collection of garbage needs to be more organised.

I don’t think making energy is the solution. They need to reduce the production of garbage, not to burn it, to make energy. The government needs to take action but it also has to come from the people, situation where both need to take action.

Rodrigo Martínez 46, Professor, Santiago, Chile 

The [rubbish] situation here can definitely be improved. I have seen many bags of garbage here, and garbage on the ground. It is not nice to look at, and it is bad for the environment. I haven’t seen any areas to recycle garbage. In Santiago, there are recycling bins, the garbage can all be separated.  Here people don’t have this idea, and what I’ve seen is a lot of garbage on the street because of this.

In Chile, they make natural gas out of the garbage, they put it in the ground, basically make a compost out of it. But in Chile, the garbage is separated already, and Santiago is a much smaller city. This has to be figured out first.

Gaston Baelo 25, Student, Cordoba

The garbage situation could be much better here. But it is a question of the people.  It takes a lot of money to resolve, to do everything, a lot of infrastructure. But simply it is a situation.

If we can recycle and separate everything, I think we can make energy from it. But this is a political situation. Really, the solution is to consume less and recycle the garbage.

Osvaldo Marzorati 70, Retired Lawyer, Buenos Aires

The only way for this situation to improve is to remove the people who are separating the garbage. There is no other way out.  All the cartoneros, they are making a mess of the city, leaving things open so the dogs destroy the bags and spread it everywhere.  The city is full of shit because of this.  This is a political issue, [the cartoneros] came at the darkest hour of the crisis here in order to get some sort of a job. They collect for others, they get a wage, they have to work every day- rain or not, cold or not, but in reality some, I don’t know who, is organising getting all the money.

You can make energy from it, sure, but the problem is the separation of the things. Why does it have to be done in the city? Remove everything out, and do it wherever the owners of the land have it. The garbage is opened up and classified, this classification should be done elsewhere, out of the city limits, or in a special place where this can be handled, not on every corner of the city. That’s why it is an unclean city.

Juliana Seranjeiola, 20, Student, La Plata 

I think that it is a situation that will take a lot of people to change. The government says they can make energy, change the situation, but they don’t do it.

This is the most logical solution: take the garbage, use it to make energy, it’s the most natural for everyone. It is definitely possible to do this – yes it is possible. But how much does it cost? It takes a lot of people working together.

A pre-dug CRA pipe that will eventually be covered with garbage as it piles higher. This will enable the company to suck out the methane gas produced by the garbage. (Photo: Grace Protopapas)

It is the same story over and over again: landfills are bad, they are dirty, they are noisy, and the smell could knock out even a skunk. With almost 15,000 tonnes of waste sent to landfills every day from the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, it is not unfair to say that landfills are the pit of society. But while they are most definitely smelly and unattractive, what most people do not know is that they are also green, and getting greener.

“We are working very hard to manage the garbage,” says Marcelo Vechiati, the engineer in charge of CRA operations at the Ensenada landfill. “It’s easy to complain but when people come here and see the landfill, it changes their opinion.”

Vechiati works for Conestoga-Rovers & Associates (CRA) at the Ensenada landfill just outside of La Plata. The landfill receives 700 tonnes of garbage a day from both La Plata and the surrounding area.

Owned by the State Society for Ecological Co-ordination of the Metropolitan Area (CEAMSE), Ensenada is a very advanced landfill with not only proper treatment of the garbage itself but also the green technology of flaring methane gas into CO₂.

Flaring, as the process is called, is a popular way of dealing with the very toxic methane gas that is constantly leaking from landfills. Numerous sites across Argentina have built flares.

Besides flaring, there is also the even greener option of using the gas for creating energy and finally, the greenest of all, is the new technology of separating, drying, and burning the garbage to create fuel. However, the process of burning garbage remains very controversial.

Flaring Methane Gas

Flaring is the environmentally-conscious process of transforming the toxic methane gas that is constantly leaking out of landfills, into carbon dioxide (CO₂). Although still not good for the environment, in terms of its global warming potential, CO₂ is 21 times less potent than methane.

“Methane is more potent than CO₂,” says the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “When these emissions are compared on an equivalent scale, which is referred to as greenhouse gas equivalents, methane contributes more to global warming.”  The EPA has done numerous studies looking at the flaring of garbage.

Vechiati explains that the projects at Ensenada and González Catán are compliant with the Kyoto Protocol. Although the protocol seems to have slipped into that awkward zone of accepted failure, and no one really wants to talk about it, some companies are still trying to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

“CEAMSE wanted to do something related to the environment and they saw the potential of the bio-gas generated by the landfill,” says Vechiati. “So in 2005 they opened a tender to get different proposals to do something with the biogas; CRA won the tender and became a partner of CEAMSE.”

A meter shows how much gas passes through the flare each hour. (Photo: Grace Protopapas)

Canadian company CRA organised the technology to be built at both CEAMSE’s Ensenada and González Catán landfill sites. Now the flaring process is burning more than 3,000 cubic metres of gas per hour.

The methane gas is sucked up from the modules, the hills filled with garbage, through vertical wells that are 16-18 metres deep. The wells pull the methane gas up into a giant tube, which transports the gas all the way across the landfill onto the flaring site.

The gas arrives at the flaring site through a well that is deep under ground in order to naturally drain as much moisture as possible. It is then sent to a moisture filter to get rid of any that made it past the draining system, as the gas must be very dry.

The gas then travels through another tube, which blasts it into the flare. Tubes at the bottom of the 12-metre tall flare release propane which reacts with the methane and oxygen in a combustion process that changes the molecules and creates CO₂. The CO₂ is then released into the atmosphere.

The flare at Ensenada is currently not at full capacity due to construction issues. But Vechiati hopes it will be back to burning close to 6,000 cubic metres of gas per hour in a few months.

Across Argentina numerous landfills have employed flaring, including the landfills in Villa Domínico and Olavarria in Buenos Aires, Salta, Puente Gallego in Rosario, AESA in Misiones, and Las Heras in Mendoza. However, regulations set down by the Kyoto protocol are not internationally binding or imposed by the Argentine government. Whether or not to do something about the environment is up to the owner of the landfill.

Also, although it is a friendlier gas, CO₂ emissions are a big problem in Argentina. According to World Bank data from 2008, the average Argentine created five cubic metres of CO2 per year, which was almost double the amount of the rest of Latin America combined, which comes in at 2.8 cubic metres per capita. The amount of CO₂ emissions has been on the rise in Argentina, spiking from 4.1 to 4.8 cubic metres in just three years. Latin America’s is also rising but has only gone up 0.3 cubic metres in the same amount of time.

Over at Norte III, CEAMSE’s other landfill, three different companies are working on flaring. They are also using the even cleaner technology of energy generation from methane.

From Gas to Energy 

Energy generation is similar to the flaring of methane gas in that it is using the naturally emitted gas from garbage in landfills for an environmentally-friendly purpose.

A pipe takes the methane from the landfill to the flare site. (Photo: Grace Protopapas)

At Norte III, Multi Ambiente is the company in charge of turning the gas into energy. Norte III, just outside the city in San Martín, is by far the largest of CEAMSE’s sites with around 15,000 tonnes of garbage coming in everyday from the city of Buenos Aires alone, as well as receiving garbage from numerous other cities.

“With the large economic global crisis, and the reduction in the CER [Certified Emissions Reactions] prices, we are rethinking and focusing on energy generation,” says Leonardo Maseiras, the sub-manager of operations at CEAMSE. “This is why we have running in Norte III a 5MW/h plant and are constructing one that will create 10 MW/h.”

CERs are what CRA and CEAMSE are being paid to create. When they change the methane gas into CO₂ they have made a CER, which they then sell to make a profit. However, with the global economic crisis the price for CERs has plummeted, making the expense to create them more than they are worth. Turning to energy generation not only guarantees a profit but is also better for the environment. Various other landfills sites across Argentina are also looking into energy generation instead of flaring.

The use of methane to create energy is a similar process to the flaring of methane. The gas is collected in tubes that are drilled vertically into the modules. With giant vacuums it is sucked out of the hill and carried through tubes to the energy conversion site.

There the gas turns massive turbines that create energy. That energy is then collected and transferred to state-owned energy company Enarsa.

“All the power lines in Argentina are connected,” says the president of Insaap Miguel Suarez, “All the lines are owned by Enarsa. This is a national government agency. It doesn’t matter where you are in Argentina, you are getting the same energy.”

Insaap is the company in charge of contracting the green projects at CEAMSE’s landfills. They controlled the actual building of the flare at Ensenada. They are also looking into waste-to-energy technology that incinerates the garbage itself.

The Tyrannosaurus

Enter the Tyrannosaurus. Although not literally a giant scaly dinosaur, the machine in question has the power to do some serious damage; to garbage that is.

Developed in Finland by BMH Technology, the Tyrannosaurus is the name of the actual machine that shreds the garbage. The shredder is part of a massive assembly line that takes municipal solid waste (MSW) and turns it into solid recovered fuel (SRF) which can then be burned to create energy.

Through various filters and magnets all liquid waste, metals, and organic waste are pulled out of the MSW for compost and recycling. The garbage left is then dried and sent through the Tyrannosaurus, which shreds what is left making SRF.

“The idea of the project is to generate fuel with garbage. It separates the inorganic and organic parts and uses the combustible part to make fuel,” says Suarez.

The end product is “highly-calorific fluff” that is ideal for burning to create energy, either mixed with traditional solid fuels like wood, peat and coal or used alone. Emissions of greenhouse gases are seriously minimised due to the high-temperature burning of the SRFs. This option makes garbage burning one of the most environmentally friendly ways of dealing with a city’s waste.

“This is something CEAMSE would like to do in Norte III but we are only just studying it, it is extremely expensive,” says Suarez.

Besides Norte III the National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI) is also looking into something similar for the province of Mendoza’s landfills. They plan on constructing a prototype, which will burn 10 tonnes of garbage a day. The price tag for the prototype has been budgeted at $30 million.

The Province of San Juan is also trying to be the first province to burn garbage by participating in a competition held by the National Ministry of Science and Technology. If their project is picked, a $36 million power plant that is fuelled by waste will be built.

The Politics

Part of the problem with developing green technology at landfills in Argentina is the unknown life expectancy of a site. In order to get funding for flaring, energy conversion, and shredding for incineration projects like the Tyrannosaurus, they need long-term proposals. But like many other things in Argentina, the landfill sites are often subject to political tug of war.

The other problem is the huge controversy surrounding what is essentially the burning of garbage.

The Citizens Coalition Against Incineration was formed in 1995 to protest the original plan to simply burn the garbage with no sorting whatsoever.

The flare tower burns the carbon-dioxide which while still polluting is 21 times less dangerous for the environment than burning methane. (Photo: Grace Protopapas)

“The incineration of waste creates new environmental and health problems, discourages the minimisation of waste generation, and is incompatible with programs for recovery, recycling, and composting,” writes the coalition on their website.

Although many people still balk at the idea of burning garbage today, BMH claims that the burning of SRF is much more environmentally friendly. The gas created from the burning can be used to turn massive turbines creating energy. When the entire process is complete the only thing left is organic waste for compost, metals that can be melted down and reused, and energy from the burning of the SRF. All of this is done with fewer greenhouse gases escaping.

For now, landfills in Argentina are focusing on what they can do: flaring methane gas to create CO₂ and converting methane into energy. Despite being covered in plastics, left over food, and shiny metals, they are getting greener.

“People don’t like the idea of landfills but even if you know nothing about the environment you can see that we are environmental cleaners, not environmental polluters,” says Vechiati. “After all, where else are you going to put the garbage?”

Do Argentines think these initiatives will help solve the rubbish problem? Click here to find out.

Walking down the streets of Buenos Aires is often a sensory adventure – but not always in a good way.

Overflowing garbage and recycled garbage waits for collection (Photo: Sam Verhaert)

In between wafts from bakeries and the glorious Roman-style columns, bags of refuse line every kerb. Street corners sometimes serve as collection stations, where dozens of bags sit and stink up the neighbourhood. Restaurants dump uneaten food into the same bins as computer parts and cardboard. Cartoneros – the city’s makeshift recyclers – rip through bins and bags for whatever can be sold.

This is just what people can see.

Beneath the surface, the situation is just as messy.

Out of the approximately 14,000 tonnes of garbage produced daily by the entire Buenos Aires metropolitan area, the capital’s share weighs in at about 6,000 tonnes. For years, that trash has been ending up in the Province of Buenos Aires’ landfills.

But if a new bill currently being debated at the Buenos Aires province legislature is passed, the province will not take it anymore – and the city will have to find new ways to deal with its own garbage.

Recent Stir Ups

Last week, Buenos Aires provincial senators Cristina Fioramonti and Alberto De Fazio introduced a bill that would slowly decrease the amount of waste entering the Province of Buenos Aires from other jurisdictions – namely from the city of Buenos Aires.

From the 14th January 2014, no waste of any type would be allowed to enter the province from another district.

“The issue of garbage has been dilating for quite some time, and we understand the need to resolve the issue for the sake of our environment and our health,” Fioramonti said, according to the Argentine legally-focused weekly Parlamentario. ”We will do whatever is necessary to get this bill passed and that it can be used in the future as the standard.”

Barrio 17 Noviembre is a waste-land. (Photo: Olmo Calvo Rodríguez)

The cherry on the garbage sundae is that the State Society for Ecological Co-ordination of the Metropolitan Area – CEAMSE, the publicly-owned solid waste management company – has stated that prices for the capital will be hiked 35% as of 1st June.

The move follows weeks of trash talk between President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Buenos Aires city mayor Mauricio Macri.

On 3rd May, President Fernández asked that “the city pays what it has to pay” for garbage per tonne, noting it is either that or “they should have it [the rubbish] processed in the city.”

In a press conference on 8th May, Macri accused the national government of trying to “bankrupt” the city.

“The attacks have to be limited,” he said. “We live in Argentina and we have a metropolitan area. An important part of the waste generated is from people coming every day to work in the city.”

Consuelo Bilbao is a co-ordinator with Greenpeace Argentina. She says the problem extends to the metropolitan area as well, but the capital is the biggest issue because it creates the most rubbish. While she points out that the city has to find ways to limit the garbage it produces, she notes the 2014 deadline that would close the province landfill’s doors would leave the city stranded.

“They can’t be closed,” she says. “Where will they put the garbage? There is no other new location. [...] We can’t prohibit it all, 100%. There isn’t a way, in two years, to stop it all, 100%”

Basura Cero

In November 2005, the government of Buenos Aires unanimously passed the “Zero Waste” law, which was supposed to decrease the levels of garbage produced in the city.

Cliba Dump Truck (Photo: Ian McIntosh)

The law proposed measures to reduce waste, improve recovery and recycling, and decrease the toxicity of waste; it also is supposed to put more responsibility on manufacturers for their products.

The Zero Waste law states that using the 2004 baseline of 1,497,656 tonnes, the city should reduce the amount of waste being buried at landfills 30% by 2010, 50% by 2012 and 75% by 2017. It also says the city will prohibit the disposal of recyclable materials by 2020.

Despite the efforts of the Zero Waste law, Bilbao says the situation remains the same.

“Regrettably after so many years, because of a lack of investment, because they do not really want to change anything beyond the words of the law, we’re still burying trash,” Bilbao says. “Today, after so many years, instead of having less garbage as is in the law which was to progressively introduce methods of reduction, we have had a steady year-to-year increase.”

Francisco Pompeyo Ramos-Marrau is an urban architect working with the Ministry of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services. He says he thinks the program is “better than not having anything.”

“It doesn’t resolve the problem definitively at all,” said Ramos-Marrau, who works in the department of urban planning and construction.

A “Below-Average” City

In comparison to the rest of Latin America, Buenos Aires is not particularly green.

In 2010, the business consultants Economist Intelligence Unit released a report on the environmental performance of 17 Latin American cities. Sponsored by Siemens, the report ranked the cities on a range of criteria like waste, sanitation, water and air quality.

Buenos Aires fell below average – with especially dismal performances in its waste management and sanitation.

The study said the city generates 606kg of waste per person per year, above the 17-city average of 465kg per year.

“This is the third highest rate of waste generation in the Index — only Brasília and Belo Horizonte produce more waste,” it reads.

Bilbao notes the city’s huge lack in organic composting. She says about 50% of the city’s solid waste going to landfill is organic material.

“If you want to separate your food and organic material out, no one comes to pick it up,” she says. “[It's] an important fraction, which would shrink this gigantic garbage pie.”

Urban environmental expert Nicholas You was a member of the panel that advised the Economist study. In an interview published alongside the study, he said that in Latin American cities everyone is responsible for a “slice of the problem” but no one controls the bigger picture.

“There are several obstacles, including short-term politics versus long-term planning, decentralisation and the lack of empowerment of local authorities, and overlapping jurisdictions,” he said. “But there is one key issue: who is responsible for doing what?”

Improvements and Options

The city has announced that next March, recycling stations will be available around Buenos Aires.

Recycling collection bins in Recoleta. (Photo: Leonardo-DM)

In an attempt to cut down the garbage, La Nación reported Sunday that although a few “ecopoints” have been set up in the city, many people near them do not know how to use them.

“The information that is available is not great, nor is there a number to call to come and look for things, at least in my neighborhood,” 32-year-old Paula Lombardi, who moved to Floresta nine months ago, told the newspaper.

Although there is a law against anything but interred garbage, on 9th May the state-owned news agency Télam reported that the city of Buenos Aires’ auditor Eduardo Epszteyn said he thinks the lack of interest in reducing garbage is part of a strategy to move toward incineration.

There have been no further reports on the topic. But Eduardo Giesen, Latin American co-ordinator for Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), an NGO against incineration which promotes systems of Zero Waste, says there are studies from around the world that show the negative impacts of incineration.

“GAIA and its allies in Argentina, who group themselves against incineration, celebrate the Zero Waste law,” he says. “But unfortunately, we have seen it employed in a manner that is deficient.”

Although she disagrees with incineration, Bilbao says Buenos Aires is on the verge of crashing if there are no major changes before 2014.

“We’re at a moment of collapse,” she says, noting that money is not a problem.

She points out that the city spends $1.5bn on garbage services, and only $200m on its minimal recycling programme.

“Is it that there isn’t money? Or is it that the money isn’t distributed well?” she asks.

Ramos-Marrau also says the city should treat its unofficial cartoneros better. With an official system, they would. He adds that the cartoneros should be given the opportunity to work in the centres.

“The working conditions of the cartoneros today should not exist,” he says. “It’s outside of labour laws. [...] They are workers. They are not people that are outside of the labour market.”

That said, Ramos-Marrau notes that garbage is just one of a slew of institutional problems in the city. Fixing the rubbish problem would be a “patch” on a much deeper problem. He says he thinks the city should no longer be the federal district of Buenos Aires, but that there should be an all-encompassing government that functions within the metropolitan area. He also believes the city should no longer be the actual capital of the country. He noted that the capital should move to a place like Viedma, which is according to law the capital of Argentina.

Ramos-Marrau also says that with regards to garbage in general, people have to start thinking of it differently, thinking of it as something that can be used in another way. He says there are better ways to dispose of and use municipal waste, which could be found through waste treatment plants and urban garbage factories.

“This is urgent,” he says. “This is immediate. This cannot wait any longer. They have to take enormous institutional measures. [It's] a question of jurisprudence, jurisdictions, and of decentralisation – it’s very difficult.”

Click here to find out what porteños think about the city’s rubbish problem.

Last week the government of the province of Buenos Aires introduced a bill that, if passed, will stop Capital Federal’s rubbish from being dumped in the province by January 2014. For decades the city’s rubbish has been going to landfills in the province, so now that the city might have to deal with its own rubbish, what will happen?

On top of this CEAMSE, the publicly-owned company which handles the city’s waste management, has announced it will be raising its prices by 35% as of June this year. All in all, the city has a big pile of rubbish on its hands, which if both changes go forward, will be an expensive problem too.

Allendria Brunjes investigates the details behind the new bill preventing rubbish being transported out of its original jurisdiction, while looking at the state of Federal Capital’s rubbish management in general. The Indy headed to the streets to see what the residents of Buenos Aires thought about the city’s rubbish and what should be done with it.

Juan Cruz, 27, Almagro, Employer

I believe the rubbish should be discarded in the province rather than the city, because the province does not have the physical limitations that the city has. The city does not have enough space to store or bury the rubbish. Needless to say, when the city dumps rubbish, it tries to make sure the rubbish is handled properly, and not form open pit rubbish dumps, or create pollutants. 

Ariel Vrangican, 32, Playa Blanca, Tourism Worker

They should have a spot where recycling and rubbish is put and dealt with – either a particular place, or a machine that gets rid of the rubbish and not just leave it. The capital’s rubbish matters and they must sort it out. Macri must tell the province that he is planning on dumping the rubbish there, and make sure there is some agreement in place. If he hasn’t done this, then I think it’s a problem, but if there is an agreement in place, then I think it’s fine. I think that if there is a plan in place, it should incorporate the opinion of all the people from the province.

Marica Sabbatini, 29, San Telmo, Artist

I think the topic of where to store rubbish is quite a complicated issue. In order to dump refuse waste, space is needed. It would be good to try and find a place in Capital Federal so to not compromise the relationship between capital’s government and the provincial government. If no place within the city can be found, Macri will have to negotiate with the provincial government to find a solution.

Maria Isabel Flores, 58, Belgrano, Ballerina

I think they should industrialise the city’s rubbish. I also think that the organic waste should be separated from what is not organic, and then the volume of waste would not be so big. Once this separation has been made, the organic waste is biodegradable, making the problem of where to put it much smaller. After this the city will just have to think about the other waste. I think that more focus should be put on recycling. In regards to where the waste should be put, I think that the production and separation of the rubbish would filter out a lot a recycling and be kept in recycling plants. After that, I don’t really know.

Alex Burin, 24, Villa Crespo, Student

The state of the rubbish in the city is disgusting. If it weren’t for the cartoneros there would be no recycling, which although is a good source of income for them, is a terrible reflection on our government’s system. I don’t know if there is enough space for the government to dump the rubbish in Capital Federal, so the only solution might be to put it elsewhere. If the government were more efficient about the way they collect rubbish, maybe there wouldn’t be as much of it. The main issue for me is the recycling and that money and effort should be put into bringing the city up to the standards of others.

In 2006 the Ley de Basura Cero (Zero Rubbish Law) passed Congress in Argentina, stating that the amount of garbage for the entire country should decrease by 30% before 2010. The reality is that nowadays more than 5,000 tonnes of waste are removed each day from the capital and put straight into landfills, leaving the 30% rubbish decrease unrealised.

So what do porteños know about this? Are they aware of the Ley de Basura Cero and do they know where their trash finally goes? How clean is Buenos Aires in their opinion and what do they think of the collection of garbage around the city?

Lucila Herreda, 19, medical student, Microcentro

I think Buenos Aires is in general a very dirty city; when I am just walking through a random street in the city I see waste or any other form of pollution everywhere. Of course it depends in which area of the city you are, but in general I perceive it as quite dirty. Our government is not doing a lot to combat this and it seems like in some parts of the city they do not clean at all! I know that some poorer parts of the city look terrible and waste just gets dumped in their backyard. But honestly, I can not say a lot about this since I rarely come to these areas of town. But what I strongly believe is that we, people of Buenos Aires, should do our part to keep the city clean; right now, we are not aware enough and produce a lot of waste by ourselves. If everyone would pay some more attention to keeping our city clean and be more aware of that, we can decrease the problem, although little by little.

Marta Estevez, 77, dressmaker, Caballito

I do not perceive our  city as clean, but neither as dirty. In general I do think it is much more cleaner outside Buenos Aires, in the province, than here. For example Mendoza, I see that as such a clean city; when you are there it seems you are in an entirely different country. In my opinion this has mainly to do with manners and education. Since there are no punishments or anything – nothing will happen if you just throw your garbage on the ground – people keep doing it. It is the fault of the people, nobody cares! That is the thing we should change; our own behaviour. I have the feeling that people outside the city are more aware of this and better educated. The government should stimulate this and in this manner help to keep the city clean.

Damian Oliver, 42, musician, Villa Crespo

When I only have a look in the streets of Buenos Aires I perceive it as a very dirty city. People should learn and be educated in how to deal with their garbage instead of throwing everything on the ground. Our government does not care about next to the fact the national and city government never agree about it; Macri [Buenos Aires city mayor, Mauricio Macri] is a person who is not paying any attention  to this matter and in general it looks like for him, the total southern part of the city does not exist. I do not think the way garbage is collected in the city has a lot to do with the pollution in the city – since I think that is generally good – main problems are caused because it finally often got dumped in the province; so many discussions between national and city government come up which I think is the main reason of the pollution problems.

Cristian Argañaraz, 29, electrician, Caballito

In general I think the rubbish collection in our city is good; people get paid well and I think they are doing a great job. Though; I think Buenos Aires is a very dirty city which is mainly caused by ourselves. We should be more aware of it and the government should educate us, also in things as separate our garbage for example. Especially Macrí; he does not have a national goal in mind and no intentions to do something with this pollution of the city; it looks like he does not even see it! Besides, the national and city government never get to an agreement concerning rules of rubbish collection. Have a look at the southern part of the city; terrible the situation over there; it looks like a complete different city! Not only because the government pays hardly any attention to keep the southern parts of the city clean, but also because of a complete different family culture and habits over there. People are even less educated in thing concerning hygiene and environment. Concerning the responsibility of the government in the southern parts of town; I do not know when or if this will ever change, anyways under the head of Macrí definitely not; for him this part does not have the name ‘Buenos Aires’.

Javier Mason, 38, teacher, Caballito

In general I think Buenos Aires is quite a dirty city, but I think this is inevitable in a big city. Besides it highly depends of the area your are in, for example the situation in the southern parts of the city; terrible. Main reason of it is that people who are living there are less consciousness about environment and way to keep the city clean; apart from the fact that the government acts like this part of town not exist and does not pay any attention to keep it clean. In contrary, rubbish got often dumped there, which is not only rubbish we are producing, but even more rubbish from the big industries. I think that these industries are a key factor concerning the city’s pollution. Also the government should pay more attention to it; for example the Riachuelo river, a complete disaster!

Photo by Ellen Knuti

Flowers made from discarded plastic bottles

Buenos Aires is a city known for its garbage – the endless string of cartoneros picking through piles pitched onto the crumbling sidewalks every night, the trash-clogged storm drains flooding the streets during every heavy rain and sad reality that most recyclable materials are buried in landfills outside the city rather than reused.

But the artists of Buenos Aires-based Reciclarte believe that one person’s trash is somebody’s treasure. Alberto Vazquez and David Acevedo founded the group as part of a worldwide art movement connecting the public with the idea that everyone is responsible for the environment. So how is Reciclarte getting the message through? By hitting the streets and digging through the city’s garbage.

“We recycle, reduce and reuse for art. We use absolutely everything,” Vazquez says.

Alberto Vazquez is a doctor by profession – a specialist in human development, actually – who spends his free time rummaging the gutters and trash cans for old lighters, bottle caps and plethora of other refuse which he brings home with him in hopes of people coming to think differently about what they choose to throw away.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Vazquez says he believes absolutely everything is fair game when it comes to making art. His garage-turned-junk-wonderland is stunning proof that what we think should be thrown out when it is longer useful can always be made into something beautiful. Old perfume bottles, soda cans, plastic bags, bottle caps, wire, chunks of wood pulled from the Rio de la Plata or gutters, twisted scraps of metal, glass taken in the aftermath of car crashes, tea bags, coffee filters, McDonalds toys, plastic guns, CDs, lighters and discarded clothing are just a few of the items stored in the Belgrano workshop.

Photo by Ellen Knuti

Alberto Vazquez at Reciclarte’s Belgrano studio

The group has two workshops, the smaller in north Belgrano and a larger space in Caballito for constructing metal sculptures and other huge pieces.

But whether it’s a sculpture made from melted plastic or a 3-D painting using nuts and bolts, Reciclarte artists don’t limit themselves. The artwork is as varied as the materials it’s made from; the importance of the piece comes from recognising its origin.

“We work with trash, so there’s no motive we’re trying to say about anything specific like the river; the theme of the art is anything. The materials are what produce the concept and send the message.”

Trashing History

“Being contemporary artists, we believe in the obligation to express the current situation of the world. In the 1900s Van Gogh had something specific to express, this century where we are exploring violence against the environment,” Vazquez says. “All human beings are responsible for the environment. Each one of us in Argentina is responsible for the quality of where we live.”

According to Vazquez, there are six artist groups who call themselves Artists for the Earth. The movement, which aims to get the public thinking about their impact on the environment has representatives on almost every continent. Reciclarte is the movement’s Argentine representative.

Trash Art – In The Street

“The people recognise plastic bottles or different element of trash in a piece. They are fascinated by the materials,” Vazquez says, “and all trash art is made to be touched by the people. In museums, it’s ‘don’t touch the art, don’t take photos’. We want them to touch the art, not just look but feel also. This is how you get the piece to have a lasting impression.”

Reciclarte truly is art for everyone. Children, who naturally can’t keep their hands out of anything, are especially susceptible to Reciclarte’s mandate that touch is of equal importance with sight. Another group forgotten by traditional artists – but included by Reciclarte – are the blind, who are allowed to feel the artwork and don’t have to stand back and hope someone will tell them what colours are present.

Apart from making serious art, Reciclarte artists don’t always believe in galleries. Most finished exhibits go right back out on the street for the normal public to see and touch.

Trashing Tradition

Photo by Ellen Knuti

‘Los guerreros del arco iris’

David Acevedo says that while the whole process is a new means of thinking about art, it’s also a social one – artists sifting through possessions people have thrown out as useless, transforming them, and putting them back in the street where normal people might walk by and take notice.

“A person who works with these materials is naturally in contact with the street and the people. It’s easier to work for a group than traditional artists who only paint. It’s more social,” Acevedo says.

So while the next empty coke can you toss into the gutter may end up being used to educate the public about the environment, Reciclarte is already working on their next project: Romeo and Juliet via garbage, coming to a street near you.

Reciclarte’s latest exhibition is on in La Boca until 21st January. Check it out at Olavarrías 818, Tuesday-Sunday 12-6 pm. Visit www.reciclarteargentina.com.ar for more information.