The northern Spanish city of A Coruña is turning garbage into urban furniture in a green revolution.The initiative led by entrepreneur Gema Neira Surribas aims to transform waste into resources through eco-design.

The project has already used garbage to make benches, drains, trash containers and bins around what looks like a utopian city. But Surribas biggest project is to gather 40 kilos of recycled plastic garbage to make a manhole cover.

“The urban elements that are necessary but annoying and cloud the tranquility of the city, should be changed, like manhole covers, they make noise and are not pretty. I couldn’t understand why they weren’t artistic,” she tells Efe.

The garbage used for urban furniture is limited to small plastics, yogurt containers, bags or medicine packaging so that what the citizens throw on a daily basis are turned into a resource.  Surribas has been working in the field of urban design for 20 years and is famous for her Cholitas bags, made with re-used marine and urban materials.

The entrepreneur is in talks with construction companies and administrations “to reward the use of recycled materials” and introduce this type of urban furniture which does not cause noise pollution, is 100% eco-designed and has a great impact on the water footprint.  “We are facing a unique and essential element to boast of friendly and sustainable cities. Elements that, in addition to their function, give us a lesson and a message about how to take care of the planet,” she says.