Copper - Acid and Dust

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A poisonous cycle.

Coppers electrical conductivity and relative abundance have traditionally made it the material of choice for use in printed circuit boards and electrical wiring. However copper supplies are falling far behind demand generating an increase in prices across the global market.

This short film takes a look at people in Northern India who strip copper from discarded circuit boards to sell it back to factories for a living.

The process is neither sophisticated nor safe: liberating the copper produces poisonous nitric acid, which these workers are exposed to on a daily basis.

As film-maker Mike Paterson comments:

"I was struck by the similarities between their new work with the copper and the agricultural labour they had left behind. The unhappy irony being that their work now poisons the same land which used to grow their crops."

The film forms part of 94 Elements, led by Mike Patterson as executive producer. The documentary initiative aims to explore our lives through the lens of the elements and is inviting film-makers to pitch for the chance to create their own film on individual elements..

Find out more about the project.

Hindi with English subtitles.