Plot

Discover the vast and strangely beautiful places where things go to die and meet the people who collect, restore, and recycle the world's scrap. SCRAP scratches beneath flaking paint and rusting metal to reveal the beauty and pathos in the ugliness we leave behind. SCRAP is a love letter to the things we use in our daily lives. This cinematic documentary tells the stories of people who each have a connection to objects that have reached their 'end of life'. Together their stories convey a deeper environmental and human message about our relationship to things, the sadness we feel at their eventual loss, and the joy of their rebirth.—Stacey Tenenbaum

Discover the vast and strangely beautiful places where things go to die and meet the people who collect, restore, and recycle the world's scrap. SCRAP tours the world's most unexplored places to show the beauty and pathos in the ugliness we leave behind. The film uses soaring aerials to capture the size and scope of these surreal landscapes. From the ground, it will tell more personal stories of the people who each have a deep connection to things that have reached their 'end of life'.

We'll meet Toh and her family who live in an airplane graveyard outside Bangkok. They make a living guarding the abandoned planes and charging tourists to come photograph them. Parisian/ Korean Architect Tchely Shin is using old ships to build dramatically shaped buildings. He hopes that architecture can be a more ecological solution to the problem of end-of-life ships. South Dakota sculptor John Lopez is making large scale sculptures out of discarded farm equipment and Delhi-based photojournalist Saumya Khandewal is photographing e-waste to bring attention to this growing problem in India, where less than 20% of electronics are recycled.

These are just a few of the characters you will meet in Scrap. Together these stories will convey a deeper environmental and human message about our relationship to the things we use in our daily lives. SCRAP scratches beneath the surface of flaking paint and rusting metal to expose our deep attachment to objects around us. By showing discarded goods in a new and engaging way, the film will raise awareness about the fate of these things and will instill in viewers a desire to buy quality goods which can be recycled, repaired, and re-used.