Hey guys, thank you all for your responses to the photos. I realized
it will take me a little while to put together a more complete history
of papercrete in Nogales, but here at least is some background on the
project we have going in Flores Magon, Nogales with Guadalupe Melendez.
I work am an intern with BARA (Bureau of Applied Research in
Anthropolgy) at the University of Arizona, and papercrete was already
being experimented by a few schools and community organizations in
Nogales when we started doing workshops. Guadalupe, or Don Lupe, came
to one of these initial workshops over two years ago and started
making papercrete on his own.
Papercrete addresses two of huge issues for Nogales: waste and
housing. As a result of free trade agreements, such as NAFTA in 1994,
the creation of maquiladoras (non-Mexican owned assembly plants) has
increased dramatically throughout the border. These plants generate
large amounts of waste paper, and furthermore are in a large part
responsable for the explosion in Nogales's population. This has
overwhelmed Nogales's infrastructure, particularly in waste management
capacity. There are also no places for these newly-arrived people to
live. Many have built their homes from palets or waste plastic, wood,
or metal. These homes are at a hight risk of fire and provide little
protection from Nogales's extreme temperatures. Papercrete can both
take waste paper out of the system and provide low-cost housing for
residents of Nogales, Sonora.
In the Papercrete Project Flores Magon Don Lupe was origionally
testing to see if papercrete was a viable option for low-cost housing,
and if it would stand up to Nogales's weather. He has proved both of
these things. Now he is experimenting with different mixes, the roof,
and working with a local techincal college to develop ways to make
block production more efficient. He has a tow mixer but is trying to
switch to a electric motor mixer because of the price of gas. He also
has a grant from a Mexican NGO to do workshops in the larger Nogales
community.
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