After getting to know three stories of lives between what some may refer to as waste, but what represents the daily living of others, the industrial designer Alejandra Gomez embraced the challenge of making an idea become reality, that first emerged in 2014 and that is all about recycling and its importance for the preservation of cities.
While she was living in Australia the young woman had the intention of designing a plan, that should broaden the spectrum of recyclig and its importance as a project to promote the sustainability of cities.
In this spirit 37 recyclists took part in a workshop called „Reciclando un mundo mejor“ („Recycling a better world“), including members of the association of recyclists in Cali (ARC), that took place last friday in the hostal Caelum. The workshop was organised by the designer Alejandra Gómez, the anthropologist Juliana Caycedo and the correspondent Lizeth Tenorio.
The use of sustainable energies in the city, the construction of roads with recycled plastic to increase its durability and the annullment of plastic bags in supermarkets and shopping centers, were some of the ideas that were concretised by the recyclists in this session. For the future there are plans of forming different entities to work on these propositions.
A year ago the founders of the workshop made acquaintance with the recyclists Jorge Encizo, José Escobar and Eison Zambrano, learned about their occupation and began to search for environmental solutions for solid and toxic waste, based on the experience of those who are in daily contact with environmentally harmful substances.
„The tour began in the `parque de las tortugas`, we began walking a route with Jorge and accompanied him the whole morning. In the afternoon we went north and later on we ended the tour in Sucre, in the recyclist’s warehouse and made some more interviews with the others.“, explained Alejandra about their work with the recyclists.
Apart from the abundance of ideas that came from nine families of recyclists, the workshop contained an exposition about sustainable projects and concepts of Colombia and the world.
„This is the moment that we should change respectively to work towards a less problematic future. It is very important to provide space to involve all kinds of people, including those who have been marginalised for their profession, like the recyclists in the city of Cali.“, Alejandra told us.
The participants of the Association noted that these activities have been positive, as those who form a fundamental part in the process of recycling could share their experiences and ideas of how we can help Cali to become a sustainable city.