Cuban inventiveness in times of crisis!...Recycling techniques

May 9, 2020

⌛ Reading time: 7 minutes

Like a storyteller, dealing with some cuban unique facts is something i like to promote to the world. Perhaps you may have already readed my article about how's to live in an embargoed country and by this moment you should be aware that cubans are inventive people and always laughing from difficulties.

There are a couple of sayings that i think unequivocally identify what it is to be an average Cuban:

Cubans think well but think late.

...and

Only the cubans laughs at their own misfortunes

Maybe you, dear reader, think that both sayings are a joke, but it happens that both phrases are true. Fortunately for me, as a cuban, i have the second skill, but i like to think i am over the average referencing to the first one **:)**

No matter what if you are under or over the average tier, it is a proven fact the inventiveness of all cubans in times of crisis. Everyone can create something, that´s for sure and there have always been times of crisis for people, places or even entire countries but in the cuban case, the combination of bad moments with creative minds have given birth to some funny and bizarre creations, completely usable though.

Cubans have developed some particular recycling techniques throughout the years, where they try to seize everything, trying to see some utility degree in almost any imaginable thing. As i said before, you can create something amazing using some recycling technique and your brain; but what about the degree of aceptance, expansion and popularity your invention could reach? In Cuba, almost everything is recyclable and when one person finds some utility for something, in matter of hours or days his discoveries went viral :)

So, as a recap, living under an economical embargo for more than 60 years has forced cubans to improvise and find new, creative ways to solve everyday problems. Let´s see then some examples showing the inventiveness of cuban people and some “famous among the foreigners” Cuba´s zero waste recycling techniques :o

❶ Recycling baby diapers

In Cuba almost all products for babies are sold in the “hard” currency the country has, called Cuban Convertible. In the case of baby disposable diapers, one package containing between 30-35 of those diapers can cost half an average salary so there is no such a thing like “disposable diapers” here. Once used, those that can be recycled(those ones not pooped :) ) are opened at one end and extracted all the content and then, they are washed and hung so the sun can dry the external material of diapers completely. Then, is usual for women to refill the diaper with some kind of absorbent fabric or cotton. The diaper is not so absorbent like when it was new, but at least the mother of the baby can take a break of washing pissed clothes. :p

Fig 1. Disposable diapers emptied, washed and out for dry. Soon will be refilled with cotton and will go back again to be completely usable.(https://www.escapingny.com)

Ahh!... it is usual in Cuba to use rehusable diapers made from some absorbent fabric, like those ones made of gauze(the fabric used in hospitals to bandage). This gauze is bent in such a way it mimics the real diapers, so baby can fit comfortably.

❷ Need glasses... sawed-off rum bottles!

If we think about it, the bottom part of most of the bottles seems to mimic perfectly the silhouette of a common and simple glass. That´s why in Cuba some small bussiness, like some snack and beverage retail outlets, cut the upper part of used bottles and turn the bottom part into “glasses”. Those glasses are a common thing in places like retail outlets selling sugar cane juice.

Fig 2. “Glasses” made from cut off rum bottles, preserving only the bottom part of the bottle. In the photo, a retail outlet selling sugar cane juice (https://www.cubanos.guru/)

We must say that restaurants and bigger bussiness do not use those craft glasses: those are only used in small bussiness which cannot afford to buy expensive original glasses(because they´re expensive) to sell drinks or soft drinks...and those glasses are used in almost every small retail outlet selling soft drinks and typical candies known in Cuba as “timbirichis” :)

❸ Now you have glasses, but i need a funnel...sawed-off plastic bottles.

The same that happens with rum bottles recycling techniques passes with plastic bottles, but in this case the usable part is the upper side of the cutted off plastic bottle. The upper side is similar to a funnel and when you do not have an original funnel at hand you can always make one cutting off one plastic bottle and seizing the upper part as a crafted funnel.

Fig 3. A crafted funnel made from the upper part of a plastic bottle, commonly used in Cuba when people do not have an original funnel at hand or they have one, but do not want to spoil the only one available transferring liquids like oil from one vessel to another one (https://www.thriftyfun.com)

Also you can seize the bottom part of two plastic bottles to make a homemade “Tupperware” to carry some kind of foods to the beach or to store homemade coconut candy and refrigerate it...is quite simple to do this and commonly used in some parts of the country.

Fig 4. Homemade “Tupperware” made from two cutted off parts of plastic bottles (https://www.escapingny.com/)

❹ Old beer cans double as flan baking tins

...yes, as you hear it! Cubans are quite good with a couple of scissors and something to cut :)

Given the lack of bakeware in the market and those appearing being quite expensive, cubans have managed to take advantage of old beer and soft drink cans to make their own flan baking tins...By cutting off the can by the middle, people here are able to seize the bottom part as small flan baking tins where they drop the baking mix. Curiously the flan piece adopts the same form than the container presenting a cavity in the upper part that is usually filled with jams or mixtures of flavors such as strawberry, orange or even coconut or chocolate candy....delicious!!! :p

Fig 5. Typical cuban flan baked in the bottom part of a cutted off beer can (https://www.baconismagic.ca)

This curious baking pan can also be used as a freezing container if cubans want to make some delicious homemade ice cream. The only difference is that they drop into the container the homemade mix for the ice cream instead of the baking mix and the final combination goes directly to the freezer instead of the oven: what you know as ice-cream balls we know it as ice-cream cans, in home environment, of course :)

Fig 6. ...the container with homemade ice cream mix goes directly to the freezer.(https://www.escapingny.com)

❺ Other examples...we have so many!!

We have many many examples of clever recycling techniques used day after day by common people living in Cuba. Writing a blog post describing each one will take me weeks even! So i want only to mention some of them appart from those i mentioned above...just to you, dear reader, have an idea :)

✔ Chocolate candies are sold in old yogurt packaging that has been cleaned, commonly used in the eastern part of Cuba

Fig 7. ...recycling old yogurt bags as candies packaging. (https://www.escapingny.com)

✔ Disposable lighters are recycled filling them with new gas

...you can check the history here

✔ Worn out toothpaste tubes, glass jars and empty fluorescent lamps tubes are used to make lamps during hurricanes, when power is often missing.

Fig 8. Lamps made from household items like glass jars and empty toothpaste tubes. (https://www.pbs.org)

✔ When the toothbrushes are really VERY worn, they find its application for shoes. Not only for cleaning, but also for pasting. **:)**

✔ *Metal meal trays are repurposed as television antennas...*WTF!?

Fig 9. Metal meal trays are visible on rooftops across Cuba and no, rooftops don´t eat, the trays are uses as antennas. (https://www.pbs.org)

Final thougths...by now

As you can see dear reader, living under an economical and financial embargo has forced cubans to “reinvent the wheel”. We are used to throwing away unnecessary things, but cubans, given the economic situation they are going through, have been forced to be creatives and create recycling techniques that help not only cubans to bypass the disastrous economical effects of the embargo but help the environment too, so our children can grow up in a more clean and healthy country...and they gonna grow being creatives too; as the old saying goes: like father like son! :)

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