This enormous area in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea is occupied by hundreds of small workshops with people all busily engaged in recycling old metal (cans, barrels, war scrap) and anything else that we in the West would simply class as rubbish. Cutting, hammering and welding create small charcoal-burner stoves, furniture, wheelbarrows, beds, containers, kitchen equipment – a host of useful items. It’s a remarkable place and a testament to both the pressures of poverty and a vision of sustainable resources that is inspiring. A lot of the material originates from war scrap.
