Waste For Life: An Organization That Uses Trash To Alleviate Poverty

Lifting people up out of poverty by helping them to transforming trash into treasure has been the main goal of Waste For Life (also known as basura por vida) since 2006. From its onset, two engineering researchers from Canada's Queens University traveled to the severely HIV/AIDS afflicted Southern African region of Lesotha, a country where approximately 40% of the population subsists on $1.25 each day (considered well below the international poverty line). Their sole purpose was to conduct research on whether a poverty and waste reduction program would thrive in the African nation as well as in other countries.

The researchers soon learned that economically crippled Argentina -- where a minimum of 12 million people (30% of the population) are currently living below poverty level thanks to an annual inflation rate of between 22% and 30% -- would also be an equally suitable place to establish their organization.  Between the two locations, they've certainly had their hands full trying "to reduce the damaging environmental impact of non-recycled plastic waste products and promote self-sufficiency and economic security for at-risk populations who depend upon waste to survive" by ultimately creating "locally based affordable technologies to make building materials and domestic products from waste fiber and plastic composites."

It is estimated that approximately 100,000 Argentineans regularly sort through the waste cluttering their city streets either individually or in cooperatives so they can sell materials to recycling facilities, earning between 10 to 15 pesos for their efforts (which is generally enough to buy a large pizza). Following Argentina's economic collapse in 2002, vast numbers of people found themselves without gainful employment and were forced out of necessity to create new opportunity for themselves. Today, being a cartonero is considered a legitimate profession, and even though practically half of those picking through garbage are children, parents receive a small childcare subsidy for their efforts.

In response to this ongoing situation, Waste For Life created a hot press which is now being used to convert cartoneros-collected plastic bags into truly affordable and functional products (like the waterproof rain boots pictured above) which are endowed with extra strength by being embedded with fibrous materials. This Flickr photostream documents the assorted items they've created from Argentina's reclaimed waste, the final goal being that they will teach the cartoneros how to create them so they can boost their income-making potential. In Lesotho, the organization is also working to develop viable agave fiber-plastic composite ceiling tiles composed of waste paper, waste plastic and waste agave plant fibers.