“I was interested in the afterlife of
old and broken machines,” he says, explaining how his first concept began taking shape. A recycling company in
Switzerland approached Perret to design a piece celebrating its 15th anniversary.
The initial idea was to create a Recycling Mandala, where visuals are laid out using recycled materials, but after the exhibition was over, the materials would have gone back to the waste stream. He wanted to create something that lasted longer. Though he finally created an installation for the Swiss company, the idea still fascinated him. This quest brought him to India, one
of the biggest e-waste generators in the world. “The recycling situation in India is not so well documented in Switzerland
and that was reason enough for a visit. Then came the encounter with the informal recycling network in Delhi where
my decision to make a yantra (a Sanskrit originated mystical diagram belonging to the India tantric tradition) began,”
says Perret. According to estimates by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MEF), India generated 1,46,800 tonnes of e-waste in 2005. The country currently generates almost four times that amount with 5,50,000 tonnes.
Bangalore itself was recorded as generating 86,000 tonnes last year. Along with nine other cities, they accounted
for 70 per cent of the country’s e-waste problems. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) forecasts that
by 2020, waste from old computers will jump 500 per cent and discarded mobile phones, televisions will add to the numbers.
The informal sector majorly comprises the local raddiwala who account for a large part of recycling e-waste.
The waste comes not only from old
computers but electronic and electrical
equipments including television sets,
refrigerators, cell phones, cables, cartridges,
bulbs and tube lights.
A report released by IT trade body
ASSOCHAM in Bangalore last year said
that only five per cent of the e-waste
generated in the city was making it to
the recyclers. This year this number increased
to 10 per cent. But 90 per cent
of the waste is still finding its way to
the informal sector, ill equipped in handling
the chemical substances that comprise
the e-waste.
While in India, Perret spent two years
researching and recording every aspect
of the informal sector dealing with ewaste
recycling in Delhi. Though the
idea began as recording, the artist found
it necessary to create a narrative as
well.
“There were areas where copper was
being melted from mother boards with
acid. For me it was extremely disturbing.
The fumes were so thick, the workers
barely protected. All the used acid was
dumped into the ground which ultimately
landed in the ground water,” he says.
But is pointing a finger at the informal
sector going to solve any of the real
health and environmental issues associated
with e-waste recycling?
“Blaming the informal sector is what
usually happen, but is too easy and
unfair a way out. All this section of the
industry is doing is trying to survive,”
says Perret.
Though the Extended Producer Responsibility
(EPR), a product and waste
management system, encourages companies
to be responsible with their ewaste,
they and the state have done
little to barely anything. EPR calls for
manufactures to take responsibility for
the environmentally safe management
of their products when no longer useful
or if discarded.
“As long as the consumers give ewaste
to the kabbadhiwala, the situation
will not get better,” the Swiss says,
adding that the government needs to
enforce laws that already exist without
going against the informal sector but
by integrating them into the system.
In addition to his Recycling Yantra,
Perret will also launch a book titled A
Book about Desire documenting the
entire project along with short essays
written by experts from areas of psychoanalysis,
waste management, anthropology
and art. The book project
worked entirely on a crowd sourcing
idea where people funded the publishing
of the book.
Recycling Yantra will be on display as
part of an art exhibition by Swissnex
India in Bangalore in early September.
It will comprise a video portrait of recycling
stations, from the repair to the PC
board etching, and an installation called
the Smarahara Yantra made of materials
from these stations of recycling.
The exhibition will also be on display
at Helmhaus Zurich in December. Swissnex’s
September event will also feature
a panel discussion on the latest trends
in Indian waste discourse with experts
from various recycling and environmental
organizations.
