There Is Non-Human Life after Death, but It’s Also Different, Depending on Where It Occurs

• In Event: Towards Sustainability - I: Exploring Paths for Transformative Innovation Through Renewable Energy and Waste Management

Abstract

One of the problems caused in the life cycle of technological products – where the substitution of an old product with a new one always occurs – is the produced quantity of electronic and mechanical garbage. The amount of this waste reaches an unprecedented volume, and, once again, divides the planet into two types of communities: in the first group we have the largest producing countries and consumers of technology and the largest generators of technological waste; in the second, we have the countries essentially consumers of technology, which also receive the electronic waste generated by the other countries. In addition, the recycling of this technological waste is an important activity in these countries, many artifacts are dismantled in regions dedicated to recycling, maintenance and resale of parts and equipment. As an example, in the center of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, among the luxurious buildings of the financial merchants, we can find many of these places for electronic recycling, dedicated to the dismantling and maintenance of old equipment, giving them a survival or even transforming them on other « brand new » products. This provokes the need of technical formation (formal and informal) of a specialized labor force, fueling a market that employs thousands of people. This paper intends to show some materialities about how different are the aspects related to the death, the end of the life cycle, of the technological artifacts in the central and peripheral countries, with very important ecological and economic effects in these countries.

Authors

• Marcos Fialho Carvalho, UFRJ - HCTE

• José Antonio Borges, NCE/UFRJ

• Eduardo Nazareth Paiva, EDUARDO NAZARETH PAIVA