Lime Green Garbage Collection Center is a Recycled Aluminum “Urban Stomach”

This angular, lime green structure is so unique that you might peg it as a museum or eccentric home - but it's actually a garbage collection center. Acting as a giant "urban stomach," the facility gathers waste from neighboring areas, compacts it and prepares for it to be taken to other recycling plants. Designed by <a href="http://www.vailloirigaray.com/">Vaillo + Irigaray</a>, the building isn't just a starting point for recycling - its distinctive facade is also made of aluminum, a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/category/recycled-materials/">recycled material</a>.

Located in Huarte, <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/index.php?s=spain">Spain</a>, near the French border, the plant was conceived as an analogy for a stomach with intestines.

Following the biological theme, the various buildings that make up the structure are connected by a network of underground pipe.

Inside, the center is equipped with turbines, scrubbers and filters that sort the collected trash and readies it to be shipped to other treatment and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/category/recycled-materials/">recycling </a>centers in the region.

Because it can get pretty noisy with all of the sorting going on inside the building, <a href="http://www.vailloirigaray.com/">Vaillo + Irigaray</a> gave the walls several insulating layers.

The facade is made of recycled aluminum sheets that have been painted a poppy lime green.

"The color and treatment of the facade highlights the environmental nature of the project," explain the architects.