Most of the schools I'm working with are super interested in teaching their students about trash... Strange? Why, yes. In the US we put our glass in one bag, our cans in another bag, our paper in another bag and throw out the rest (or put it in the compost pile). Here in Zunil the trash issue is city wide. They have a trash truck that charges Q2 for each big bag and they take it off your hands, throw it off a cliff and light it with a match. Or if your family doesn't have the Q2 to pay (25 cents) then you burn it yourself or throw it in the river. Yes, trash is an issue.

So as a part of Healthy Schools, the teachers really want to work on trash management so that the next generation won't continue with the status quo. It's hard because you don't want the kids classifying their trash and then having them haul it all to the river in the end. So what do you do with this classified trash when there aren't good industrial recycling options nearby? YOU GET CREATIVE!

Enter the paper brick! This brick is pure paper (newspaper, notebook paper, whatever kind of paper minus cardboard and toilet paper). The paper brick was a peace corps invention back in the day and it's still chugging. You have the kids put all their paper in a bag then once they have enough you tear it up, and let it sit in water for two days. After two days it comes out looking like a strange and not-so-appetizing dough that you throw into a metal mold which pushes the water out (with a bit of elbow grease) and bam. you have a paper brick.

What do you do with said paper brick once it dries? You use it to cook. Most families here still use firewood so by utilizing the paper brick, which lasts up to FOUR HOURS in the fire and releases equivalent or less smoke than firewood, you reduse the number of trees that get chopped down from the mountaintops and you use what would have been trash for something productive.

No, it's not a perfect solution. But it's a start...

The wet paper in a huge bin

Sixth graders in Zunil putting the paper into the mold to make the bricks

Pushing the handles down on the mold to get all the water out

The final product set out to dry! We made around 30 bricks with one week's worth of paper from a school of 500 kids... They are planning on giving to the three schools in the district who still use fire to cook the school snack!