Waste not want not: An E-Waste Story from NY CITY Lens on Vimeo.
(Produced by Nadeem Shad / NY City Lens)
Art and waste may seem like a strange combination but it’s a natural marriage, according to Yazmine Mihojevich, a program director at the Gowanus E-Waste Warehouse.
The waste in question is electronic waste; it comprises 2 percent of the world’s landfills but makes up about 70 percent of toxic waste, according to John Shegerian, CEO of Electronic Recyclers International.
The Gowanus E-Waste Warehouse—a part of the Lower East Side Ecology Center—doesn’t take the matter lying down. Since last December they have started events to educate the public by disassembling old electronics and then repurposing them. And now, for the first time they’ve decided to make art. In the words of Ms. Mihojevich, “Art is a great way for the public and volunteers to get into environmentalism.”
