Feature: Recycled cardboard used to make low-cost books in Buenos Aires

A publishing cooperative in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires is using discarded cardboard to make low-cost books for those who can't afford commercial booksellers.

The non-profit publishing house, called Eloisa Cartonera, has published some 300 titles of Latin American literature.

"Each book is unique because we buy the cardboard, we paint it, we put it together and we publish it, all by hand," Miriam Merlo, one of the group's six members, told Xinhua during a recent tour of their workshop and store.

Following Argentina's economic crisis in 2001, many people who lost their jobs turned to collecting scraps, such as metal and cardboard, and selling them to recycling centers as a means to earn money.

The cooperative, founded by Argentine poet Washington Cucurto, also known as Santiago Vega, emerged in 2003 from that recycling drive.

"I was a cardboard collector ... and in 2007 I met Washington Cucurto .... He invited me to join the project, got me involved, convinced me after five months, and ever since then I have worked for Eloisa as an editor," said Merlo, adding she wasn't much of a reader before.

"Now I know we can recycle (cardboard) and turn it into something nice, a work of art," she said.

Authors gave the group permission to publish their books, which were sold for as cheap as three for 50 pesos (3.33 U.S. dollars) at a shop near the city's Supreme Court building.

Eloisa Cartonera has published novels, poetry and stories for children by Ernesto Camilli, classics of Argentinian literature, among others.

"Our dream is to edit the complete stories of Rodolfo Walsh, an Argentine writer, an intellectual ... a formidable journalist killed by the military in 1976," the cooperative writes on its website.

In 2012, the cooperative won the Principal Award, presented by the Dutch Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development.

"Eloisa Cartonera came up with a collective response to a context of crisis, by combining art, circular thinking and creativity to promote expression and generate social and economic welfare. As such they present a positive example for us all," the fund said. Enditem