Instituto Reciclar-T3, Brazil: Aguida Zanol
Intelligent recycling: Waste turned into art
Agiuda Zanol (left) with eulogist Helga Breuninger (right), Director of the Breuninger Stiftung
The project, initiated by the well known Brazilian artist Aguida Zanol combines three sectors which so far rarely have been connected in an equally fruitful way: art, ecology and social development.
The Reciclar-Institut educates people who up to that point have been living on and near refuse. Paper collectors or children living off waste, they learn to see the junk as a resource which can be used to produce practical goods for the daily use with nearly no financial input. On top of that, Aguida Zanol shows them how to turn refuse into fashion design, craft, and even recognized art. The increase in value and the psychological increase of self confidence with this project supersedes that of other social projects of this kind. And not at last, the Reciclar-Institute has proven to be a discovery place for creative waste recycling.
The institute run by Aguida Zanol was one of the most recognized projects at the Expo 2000.