Transforming Waste into Value

TRANSFORMING INTO VALUE TRANSFORMING WASTE WASTE INTO VALUE

In January 2013 in the port city of Valparaiso, Chile, ‘Recycling Plaza’ was built. Commissioned by the National Cultural Art Council, the project emerged from a need for greater awareness and practice of recycling in the city. “Recycling Plaza’ rescues ordinary objects, such as plastic bottles, pallets, tires and shipping containers, to transform an empty space into a dynamic place, while also realizing and addressing a community need through citizen participation.

Recycling Plaza fits within Architecture of Necessity for the following reasons: It is responsible at both a hyper-local, urban and global scale. Recycling Plaza creates a local space where communities can relax, interact and play as well as learn and share ideas for improving environmental consciousness. Before the event, the community led “recycling raids” setting up makeshift recycling collection depots across the city. At a global scale, the project demonstrates an innovative and easily replicable process of creating value from items commonly discarded as waste. Thus, the resulting built form reflects the possibility of a more responsible consumption and production chain.

It is diligent in its planning, implementation and evaluation. The project activates stronger connections among citizens, local organizations, government institutions and university students. Further, the handson, people-centered, and collaborative process of constructing a public square leverages this community network toward the design, co-production, and care of a shared urban environment. Even the smallest details are considered: recycled bottle caps used as checkers’ game pieces and 12,000 bottles transformed into a canopy.

It is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. By using locally-sourced and free recycled materials, Recycling Plaza sparks innovative environmental thinking and encourages sustainable behaviors. It untaps citizen creativity by providing tools for replicating and reusing elements of the project in other neighborhoods. Although it was dismantled, the effects of the intervention are long-lasting. After the festival, the playground structures were transported to local neighborhoods to renew underutilized urban spaces. All bottles collected were recycled locally, and as a result of the festival, several of the makeshift recycling depots became permanent as a commitment to recycle was established between the community and a local recycling firm.

It is just because it bridges social gaps by offering the space and the opportunity for people of diverse ages, genders, beliefs and social divisions to interact and play. The participatory process through which the plaza was assembled, including ‘urban potlucks’, empowers communities and builds ties among them. Increased social integration is a byproduct of the intervention.

It is open as it boosts dialogue and inclusion by activating a place.

A ‘dead’ vacant space becomes safe, joyful and vibrant, enabling a constructive dialogue, as well as the formal signing of a public petition, around the production of more environmentally friendly containers than the existing alternatives. It stimulates respect for the public goods and for others thus strengthening civic culture.

Longitudinal Section - AA

Site Plan - 1:2000

North Elevation-BB

Floor Plan - 1:200