Ecobreves – CUBA: Art Emerges from Garbage

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

HAVANA, Aug 24 2009 (IPS) - The Ecological Processing Center for Urban Waste (CEPRU), in the far eastern Cuban city of Guantánamo, will open the doors before year's end on its open-air art gallery. The premise? Garbage also holds cultural riches. “The project is supported by the Regino Eladio Boti cultural center, and will involve artists and students from the Art School. Here they will have space and conditions to work with materials from CEPRU,” director Irania Martínez told Tierramérica.

“We are linking ourselves to culture because we have to protect the environment in an integrated way. We hope to raise awareness of more people each day,” she said.

At the once stinking garbage dump, waste materials of all types are categorized and recovered, organic fertilizer is produced, and fruit and forest trees are grown.