Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Garbage Collectors Recycle Too

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BUENOS AIRES, May 6 2006 (IPS) - The Argentine capital inaugurated on May 2 its first recycling plant, for separating out recyclable materials, employing former informal garbage collectors in the city. “For now we are working with few materials, but the idea is to work with all dry waste,” Francisco Monzón, head of the Bajo Flores Ecological Cooperative of Recyclers, told Tierramérica.

In Buenos Aires, 4,200 tons of waste are collected daily for disposal in sanitary landfills. It is estimated that half is recyclable.

With 30 workers, the recycling plant will begin handling 10 tons a day, but hopes to reach 120 tons daily with 90 employees.

In 2005, through new legislation, the Buenos Aires government resolved to send recyclable waste to five separation sites, with the commitment to halve the volume of garbage sent to landfills by 2012.