Teachers and students learn to recycle and manufacture paper with kinetic energy

In one of the classrooms of the Fernando Ariztía de Paipote High School, in a small town located in the district of Copiapó, Atacama Region, there are two apparatuses that at first glance look like simple static bicycles, but they have a higher purpose. This is the Recicleta project, promoted by Enel Green Power Chile, for recycling and manufacturing paper with kinetic energy.

How does it work? The bicycles generate electricity by means of the kinetic power of the movement of the pedals. This energy allows to charge the batteries that power the recycling equipment, formed by an industrial blender and a paster/book binder. The bicycles therefore have a dual function: to produce energy and to promote physical activity among the participants.

In this way, the paper waste from the Carrera Pinto solar park, located 60 kilometers from Copiapó, as well as waste paper from the same school will be used for recycling and stationery production.

Three science and technology high school teachers, Rosario Urrutia, Myriam Briones, and Helena Miranda, were trained in a workshop given by the Sembra NGO in Nogales, Valparaíso Region, in how to use the recicleta, as well as in recycling techniques and paper-making from different types of industrial paper and incorporating vegetable fibers of local origin.

The teachers, who also learned how to make notebooks, cards, and other objects based on sheets of handmade paper, took that knowledge and the tools acquired to the high school to teach, in turn, other teachers and students about the use of the recicleta and this recycling method.