carto... what??

Argentina has given me the opportunity to reflex on many things. Recycling practices has been one of them. Not however, due of the lack of implementation of a serious and responsible policy, but because I have noticed how social and cultural environments are intrinsically related to the recycling practices.

Three different experiences illustrate this idea better:

1. Recycling, sadly not happening: My first dinner in Buenos Aires was obviously accompanied by a bottle of tasty Argentinean wine. My host, a guy from North America that has been living in Buenos Aires for almost two years, was kind enough to prepare a beautiful welcome dinner for me. After dinner, I was clearing the table. I turned to grab something and I saw him throwing away the organic residues and the empty wine bottle in the same garbage can. I was shocked, “ what are you doing” I said… I had forgotten I was in Argentina, and I had just watched a well-educated person from North America, not recycle. He replied “it’s a pity, but there is no recyclying in BA”.
I think it is very sad how we human beings almost always opt for the “easy way”. In this case, I guess it is easier to change recycling habits than to educate people about the importance of such practice…or maybe not…

2. Recycling does happen, but in a non-conventional way: The very next day after that dinner, I was walking home at night when I saw two kids, approximately ages 7 and 9, going through the garbage bags in front of each the houses in the upscale neighborhood I was staying at. The children were opening the bags to get all kinds of recyclable materials. Among which, I shamely admit, was probably the wine bottle my host and I had discarded the night before. Later I learned that what those children were doing is informal occupation called “cartoneros” (from the word “cartón” or cardboard). The occupation does not seem to respect child labour rules or basic sanitary conditions. After further research, I found that a law was issued in 2002 to create a mandatory registry for the so-called “Recyclable materials recoverers”, which is nothing more than a more politically correct term for cartonero… as if there were any politically, socially or environmentally correct word for such job.

3. “Cartonerismo” is not only a job, it is an entertainment: One day, I was walking in the city of La Plata, when I saw what I would call an “industrial carriage”! I am sure anybody that has visited South America, and perhaps any other country in the global south has seen this type of vehicle: a very rudimentary trailer pushed or “driven” by what was once a healthy horse or mule and today is just barely surviving. This one was being driven by cartonero kids and, of course, was full of recyclable materials to be sold. I was not unfamiliar with this unfortunate and “picturesque” scene, however what caught my attention this time, was that the kids were riding their carriage in a speed race against a luxury car!. And they won!! I believe those kids (again, children, not even young adults) did not realize that a huge percentage of the materials they had in their vehicle were discarded by people that can afford a luxurious car like that the one they were racing against. Nor did they realize that their occupation as cartoneros would probably never allow them to earn an income equivalent to one fifth the value of that car. More importantly, with that one fifth value they could probably get their basic needs covered for quite some time, and could therefore be in school or playing with real toys… but just like most kids, they were just having fun.