Barro Sin Plomo USA

About me:

BSP Founder Victor Aguila with James Wolfensohn, past President of the World Bank. Barro Sin Plomo (BSP) translated as “Clay without Lead”, is a multinational organization that unites the Mexican non-profit organization founded in 2003, and Barro Sin Plomo USA (BSP USA), a 501c3 US non-profit. Our mission is to end the use of lead in traditional Mexican pottery, substituting lead-free production methods which protect the health of artisans and their communities. BSP was founded by Victor Alfredo Aguila Sanchez, an anthropologist and an integrated team of professionals including a sociologist, a chemical engineer, a ceramics production specialists, and ceramists, who over the past ten years have worked in over 120 communities in Mexico and collaborated with US and Mexican universities and research laboratories, Mexican public health agencies, government institutions and NGOs, to research and develop a lead-free solution for potters. The lead-free training program developed by Barro Sin Plomo is culturally sensitive and holistic in its approach. Potters learn that the adjustments that need to be made in order to produce lead-free pottery and improve kiln efficiency are not far from their traditional practices. BSP technicians work side-by-side with potters in their workshops, teaching new firing and glazing methods while actually producing pottery. In this way, potters do not have to give up several days of work to learn the new processes. Barro Sin Plomo’s program transitions potters to lead-free pottery production, assists potters in marketing their lead-free products, and helps artisans build kilns which use 30% – 40% less fuel than traditional kilns. The organization’s roots lie in the communities where it works and in gaining the trust and acceptance of Mexican potters to engage in a remunerative, environmentally sound, and healthy occupation, and increase their sales at the same time. For the past five years BSP has worked with potters in the states of Michoacan, Mexico, Puebla, Jalisco, and Tlaxcala, assisting them with the transition to lead-free glazes. The demand from potters to participate in BSP’s integrated lead-free and marketing program is now significantly greater than the organization's current capacity.

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