Performing Scrap

Creating things from metal could be treated as a symbol of civilisation. Steel, iron, copper, and metal alloys, which were symbols of the Industrial Revolution, seem today to be not only influential materials of everyday life but also traces of memory, being connected with the power of modernity. However, the ecological use of metals in a world moving away from fossil fuels must be based on a critical approach to technologies using fossil fuels, not only black coal. Today coal is treated with rising distrust because of its strong negative influence on the environment and climate change. The same can be said about other fossil-based waste (e.g. e-waste). Treating waste as fossils and comparing its recycling to extractivism sheds new light on the huge problem of the utilisation of waste in energy technologies. The harmfulness of these technologies to humans and the environment means a change in contemporary attitudes towards metal and criticism of its use in the past. In contemporary technology, fascination with the possibilities of using steel, iron, or copper leads to a reflection on how to avoid technologies that have side effects that produce post-industrial waste, including e-waste. At the same time, it seems essential to know what happens to waste generated immediately after using electronic or metal elements, from large structures intended for building bridges to nanowaste containing valuable rare metals. This knowledge should help us to live consciously in a world of waste and understand the role of e-waste, which most often disappears from view in the recycling process.