At 14, Alejandra Leal Inspires People to Recycle in Cuban Business Ciclo Ecopapel

In the heart of Old Havana, a small family business is redefining sustainability. Ciclo Ecopapel transforms waste paper into beautifully handcrafted diaries, calendars and more – using rainwater and homemade equipment! See how Yunairis and her daughter Alejandra are building a culture of recycling in Cuba.

TRANSCRIPT

Alejandra Leal, Yunairis`s daughter, and Ciclo Ecopapel Founder say: Welcome to Ciclo Ecopapel! We’re a family business, and we’ve been making recycled paper for the past seven years.

Yunairis Estrada, Ciclo Ecopapel Founder, says: Alejandra is my daughter. She’s the reason 

I started this project and she has always been involved in it. I started this business because I didn't want to work away from home. I wanted to spend more time with my daughter. 

I’m 14 years old. I’ve been part of Ciclo my whole life. The business has existed for seven years, but I’ve been learning how to make paper with my mom my whole life, Alejandra adds.

In 2015, I started researching how paper is made on YouTube and on the Internet. I became interested, especially because I realized not many were doing it, Yunairis emphasized.

At first, I was motivated by the financial side of it, but I also wanted recycled paper products to become more common here. There’s not much of a culture of that here. Over time, I learned and started teaching others, She stated.

Alejandra comments: I love being here. I love making paper and showing people why recycling is so important, just like we do.

Alejandra describes the process of making paper:  Let me explain to you how the process works. Let’s cut some paper. Then we're going to soak that paper in water for a while and then we're going to put it through a blender. We put some water in the blender. We put the pulp here. This water already has some pulp. This process with the smaller blender should be repeated several times. Now we will use this frame to collect the pulp from the water. We place a cloth over the pulp. This is linen, but it can be any type of cloth. We repeat the process with the sponge here so the pulp isn’t too thick. When it feels right, we stretch the corners to make sure it sticks to the fabric. And we have paper. 

My secret is that I want to be an actress. What I really love is sharing information and emotions. And being able to tell the story of this place, which I’ve seen grow from scratch.

I really love it, Leal remarks.

Estrada explains: Ciclo did very well in 2024, although we're a small business. You can't count the years of the pandemic, and 2022 and 2023 were tough.

Yunairis admits: There wasn't much tourism. Now we’re getting a good number of visits. Our clients participate in the workshop. They make their own paper and take home their final product. They love that we’re a family business, that we focus on recycling. 

They find it unique, and they love it when my daughter talks. I think recycling is really important, especially here, where there’s not much of a culture of recycling. We throw away a lot which we can still use. Estrada exclaims that a lot of recycling is done at home in Cuba out of necessity, not out of environmental awareness.

We decided that some of our tools should also be made of recycled materials, like our water deposit that used to be a water tank. We also built our blender ourselves using the engine from a lawnmower, She adds.

Our press is manual. It helps remove as much water as possible from the paper and smooths out wrinkles, Alejandra insist.

Yunairis mentions: In Ciclo we use rainwater. That’s because of where we are, Old Havana. When we started, we had water supply issues. And we couldn't have a business that was forced to stop every time we didn’t have water. For a while now, there's been a boom in businesses and projects talking about recycling, sustainability, and the environment, but we still don’t have a culture of it. 

Recycling has always been part of my life. My grandparents recycled a lot. My mom built her business around it. We actually have some community projects that have been going on since primary school. Children from my own classroom and my school have been making paper, and have been learning about the business and how to recycle. At the end of the day, it's something creative. It's something that's fun. I wouldn't change it for anything, Alejandra reveals.