EL PAÍS offers the América Futura section openly for its daily and global information contribution on sustainable development. If you want to support our journalism, subscribe here.
Everyone knows Josefina Díaz Barbieri (29 years old, Mar del Plata, Argentina) as “the plastic girl.” With a degree in Environmental Management, she earned her nickname after calling on her community to donate their waste with the aim of transforming it, giving it a “second life” as sustainable objects and generating environmental education through her project Sea without Plast, which seeks to raise awareness about the high levels of pollution. After almost four years, in his workshop he has already recovered more than 10 tons of waste and now proposes a “cultural change” to stop the consumption of plastics and reduce carbon emissions.
Far from being a novelty, contamination with this material raises concern throughout the world. According to data from the United Nations Development Program, more than 430 million tons of plastics and microplastics are produced each year, although the alarms are greater if we take into account that over the next 35 years production could triple. And even worse: the vast majority are only for single use and will end up in the ocean.
Of course, the coasts of the Argentine Sea are not immune to a global problem. According to the Census of Coastal Marine Litter carried out by environmental organizations in the province of Buenos Aires, in the period analyzed between September and October 2022, 35,751 waste were found, of which 73.7% are plastic, the waste that They are also more abundant on beaches. Of that percentage, the majority are cigarette remains (26.4%); plastic fragments (17.3%), plastic wrappers (13.5%), bags (11.7%) and bottle caps (5.1%).
“The problem of waste in the sea is global. A person who enjoys the beach in Mar del Plata can find plastic waste from China,” explains Díaz Barbieri in an interview with América Futura, and provides an alarming fact: “eight million tons of plastic waste end up in the oceans each year.” . It is equivalent to the load of a garbage truck that falls into the sea per minute.”
Alerted by the high levels of pollution, the young environmental manager created the project together with her parents. Sea without Plast in 2020, with the aim of promoting environmental care and the recovery and recycling of single-use plastics. In a small workshop, they make everything from flower pots to small containers and containers for pet food and watches, among others. “The idea was not to make plastic objects, but to educate, to get the community involved through recycling and to encourage more responsible consumption,” he says.
In 2020, during the quarantine due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he began researching on platforms about how to reuse plastic waste to transform it and give it a “second life,” as he explains. “I recorded a video, I invited the neighbors to be part of the project by collaborating with plastics and there were many interested people who began to join,” recalls the young woman. There, she laughed and, since no one knew her name, they began to nickname her “the plastic girl.”
Plastic, pollution and a “second life”
What Díaz Barbieri did was a “semi-industrial process,” he explains. He bought a crusher and designed a small furnace to melt the material into molds. “It’s very labor-intensive and very artisanal,” he says. He first categorizes the plastics according to their type and color, then crushes them and places them in molds that enter the oven, where the plastic is melted. Finally, with a hydraulic press he compresses them and with that material he manufactures the objects. With sales, they obtain the money to sustain the venture. “The idea is to contribute to the circular economy from products made with waste,” he says.
The young woman lived her entire life in Mar del Plata, a city of 660,000 stable inhabitants that in the summer adds another 300,000 people, because it is one of the tourist destinations most chosen by Argentines to vacation because of its beaches, its climate and his story. Every year, millions of tourists arrive en masse and the effects of human activity on the ecosystem are notorious: there are at least 32 marine species affected by pollution through plastic waste, according to the environmental organizations that organized the census. “The presence of waste on the beaches was naturalized. People became accustomed to sitting surrounded by microplastics or cigarette remains,” laments Díaz Barbieri.
The commitment to environmental education
Education appears as a key factor in a country that has very recently begun to give a boost to regulations. In 2023, the previous Government, that of Alberto Fernández, sent to Congress a bill on Packaging with Social Inclusion, with the aim of establishing the extended responsibility of producers to finance the treatment of their packaging by paying a fee. . In addition, it promoted the regulation of an Urban Solid Waste law to give greater volume to the circular economy. However, until now the new management of the far-right Javier Milei has only shown signs of cuts, eliminated the Ministry of the Environment and keeps the funds for the area without updating.
For Díaz Barbieri, the role of the State in the construction of an environmental educational agenda is fundamental. “The results are not seen immediately and it does not have an impact in the short term, but it does have an impact in the medium or long term,” says the expert, who gives talks in schools and receives students and teachers in her workshop, where she explains the entire process of recycling and recovery of plastics. “The kids are very stimulated, they know the problem,” she says, and suggests that one of the central challenges is for society to be part of the change in habits. “Nowadays it is essential to separate waste at home. It’s elementary, like brushing your teeth in the morning. We must take charge of the garbage that is generated and have the responsibility of managing it correctly. “This helps people who dig through garbage to make a living, who are a fundamental pillar in the circular economy, be able to have a more dignified and healthy job,” she emphasizes.
Months ago, the initiative led by Díaz Barbieri reached the first ten tons of recovered plastics. “Every day the amount of material I receive varies greatly. There can be six or eight large bags. It is quite a lot, but the objective is not the quantity, but rather that people connect with the project,” he says. From his workshop, the plastic girl reflects: “More collection points could be set up, but the most important thing is to get people to consume less plastic. It is a cultural change. We must educate and raise awareness.”
#plastic #girl #Argentine #life #waste