The Eco Pioneras cooperative, founded in 2019 in Campana, went from recycling pet food bags to operating an agrochemical container collection center as a CampoLimpio supplier. Today it employs 14 people and manages around 25 tons of plastic waste a month.
The Eco Pioneras cooperative, made up of more than ten women from Campana, was born in 2019 recycling pet food bags and today employs 14 people, most of them heads of household. Its coordinator and founder, Cristina Romero, is still surprised by the growth of a project that, in less than ten years, went from sewing backpacks and pencil cases to managing empty agrochemical containers as a CampoLimpio supplier.
"We got together with a neighbor who was worried about waste management in our area. We noticed both the lack of work and how little was being done with what was being thrown away. We started collecting pet food bags and sewing backpacks and pencil cases with them. It was 2019. We named it Eco Pioneras, after the Los Pioneros neighborhood where we are from, in Campana. The project was put on hold when my partner got sick. Then the pandemic gave us an opportunity," Romero recalled in conversation with Bichos de Campo.
The concern of these women matched that of companies in the area, which did not hesitate to collaborate. "I did this outside my working hours. A company lent us a vehicle, also outside working hours. Many people started to join us when they saw that nothing was being done with certain discarded materials," she said. The collection grew until they opened a collection site in Campana, where they began offering treatment and management services for non-special recyclable waste.
One of the main leaps came between 2021 and 2022, when they specialized to work with CampoLimpio, the association that since 2018 has been responsible for the recovery and revaluation system for empty agrochemical containers in compliance with Law 27,279, and which has already surpassed 28 million kilos of containers recovered.
"At first it was strange and it was hard for us. The farmers wanted to help us unload the drums and we explained that they couldn't because they didn't have the proper protective equipment. They would tell us 'How is a woman going to take care of me and not let me help her?' To them we were 'the girls.' It was breaking a paradigm, to a certain point," Romero acknowledged.
The relationship held firm and the cooperative joined CampoLimpio's list of suppliers, which in different parts of the country manage waste and run the Temporary Collection Centers (CAT). Today they operate the CAT located on the outskirts of Carmen de Areco, which works with more than 120 producers from localities such as Salto, Chivilcoy, Lima, Zárate and San Pedro. It is one of the association's 99 operating centers, which has already reached 102 built centers.
Juan Machera, manager of Regions at CampoLimpio, explained that "outsourcing the operation of the CATs generates a lot of value." And he added: "First there is the labor that is generated. And then there is the understanding that CampoLimpio exists to protect the health and environment of every one of the towns. Our name isn't one that just sounds nice. Every buried drum affects the town, the school my children go to, the hospital that cares for people. This adds a great deal of value."
Romero celebrated the independent spirit of Eco Pioneras: "Without receiving any kind of subsidy or aid, we showed that a well-managed cooperative — because sometimes the concept of the cooperative gets muddied — is a tool for work and training. We don't depend on the State. In fact, the State is our client."
"Our niche is collection. We charge for that service, which ranges from picking up the discards to their sorting and final destination. Today we even issue a traceability certificate approved by the Ministry of Environment," she highlighted, noting that per month they reach 25 tons of plastic waste managed.
At the same time, the cooperative put together a team of certified environmental promoters who work door to door to raise awareness among residents of Campana and the surrounding area. In addition to showing the correct way to dispose of waste, they help producers deliver the drums in compliance with regulations, which involves triple rinsing and subsequent perforation.
Far from standing still, Romero is enthusiastic about new goals: "We dream and aspire to give full traceability to the drums we manage, to be able to process them, obtain recovered raw material and turn it, for example, into plastic pipes for fiber optic cables. For that, obviously, we have a way to go, but those are our medium-term goals."
