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Director(s):
RICHTS (Stefan)
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Producer(s):
ARTE GEIE, MEDIEN KONTOR Movie GMBH
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Territories:
Worldwide.
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Production year:
2009
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Language(s):
German, English, Arabic, Korean, Spanish, French, Japanese, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian
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Rights:
NON-THEATRICAL, TV, VOD, DVD, INTERNET
In Paraguay, the loofah plant is used to make vegetable sponges but nowadays, it can also used to build houses. 360°GEO - Report follows Elsa Zaldivar on her quest to free Paraguay from its housing shortage.
Until recently, the loofah plant in Paraguay had fallen into oblivion. But over the past few years, it has experienced a successful comeback - as bath sponge. Today, loofah sponges are sold throughout the world.
According to Elsa Zaldivar, loofah is now also being used in the construction of houses. The once densely wooded countryside has today been largely chopped down. Many people do not have access to affordable building materials. The idea of the loofah-cooperative is to compound loofah remains with plastic waste in order to create a a solid building material for house walls.