Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Scavengers Export Scrap

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BUENOS AIRES, Sep 23 2006 (IPS) - By the end of the month, the Argentine ecological cooperative Reciclando Sueños (Recycling Dreams) will have sent another two shipments to Spain, each containing 25,000 kilograms of scrap iron. The cooperative, made up of southern zone “cartoneros” (informal scrap collectors) and some of Buenos Aires's poorest residents, is a pioneer in exporting scrap for recycling.

In April the co-op sent its first shipment of 25 tons of scrap to the Interrecicla steel mill, which manufactures tools in the Spanish city Bilbao.

“They are very happy with the material we send. And very enthusiastic, because they prefer to buy from us than from a corporation,” Valentín Herrera, president of the co-op, told Tierramérica.

The collectors receive approximately 130 dollars per exported ton, on which they have to pay a tax of almost 40 percent to the Argentine government.