We were clear that we had to reduce waste, that we had to remove plastic from all our products, because it was painful to us. We saw possibilities for change," said Bego Zuza, president of ARGIA, who asked why the plastic used to send the weekly to community members was removed. "Before the summer, we talked to colleagues at the printing press Antza from our group of companies about whether they could get compostable material, whether they found a way to do something compatible with the machines they have today. We all saw that it was very interesting to get it, not just for us, but for the journals that they print." That said and done, thousands of copies have already left for the first time in the bags made with potato starch to be reused or deposited in the brown container by the subscribers.

Antza's workers are working in the chain. Once printed and stapled, the magazine carried by the political prisoner Jordi Cuixart on the front page, one of them places the magazines on the mobile tape, another places them on a sheet produced by Koldo Izagirre for the centenary of this house, another on papers with the name and address of the subscribers, and another on a cover to mail the semanaries. This cuts it mechanically, and then another person takes it and puts it on a pallet grouped by postcodes.

 

 

 

 

“It’s a bit thinner, we’ve had some difficulty with the machine, we’ve had to change some parameters, but it’s OK, it hasn’t given us much war,” says Egoitz Borda, the printing worker Antza.

"For us it's innovative, and our suppliers have told us that they're not used to working with this material, so we know it's not the norm," says Borda. "After all, they are transforming the project to the present times, and all these changes are good for us, as a printing press," he added.

"Ideally it could be sent without a cover, but the post office forces us to label and fit each address into a bag. On the other hand, as inks and plastic are very polluting, we have been working with eco-inks for some time. It seems that the way the printing press is doing to be a green printing press is very interesting, and we, as a project, are given a lot of strength," says Bego Zuza.

In recent years, as a transformative social economy project, the ARGIA team has been giving a lot of attention to issues related to daily activities. Eliminate Iberdrola and engage with Goiener the energy, the processes of horizontalization of the internal organization, the non-commercial subscription models, the promotion of free culture and other issues related to sovereignty. And also the relationship with the environment, as it is a paper magazine. According to Zuza, the decision is not casual, as ARGIA has found, among others, many neighbours of Hernani and Usurbil fighting for the issue of waste management. "We are very conscious of our waste and, furthermore, we are at Lasarte-Oria, a monstrous incinerator is being built next to us, and we will never give it. We will have to breathe the smoke and dirt, but it will not be because we pass by and we do not do everything we can for better waste management. Taking small steps, we are receiving great joys, as we are overcoming many obstacles that are considered impossible beforehand."