Tyres

Many hands are making many different things. In a workshop in Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar, used car tires are transformed into a series of completely new objects. In a consistent rhythm of cutting, scraping, pulling, sweating, tearing, shelling and cutting again, the tires are stripped of their original form. Unfolded and rolled up, they get another purpose a couple meters away, where skilled craftsmen take the pieces of rubber and turn them into buckets and flip-flops, and make steel brushes from the wire. The workshop is filled with workers from both sexes and all ages: a young woman in a sarong feeds her child in between her activities, while an old-timer drills holes with a homemade drill and shirtless boys play a game of chinlone, a traditional combination of sport and dance. Sometimes, the work takes its toll. In the opinion of one experienced recycler, "This kind of work won't make you rich, you'll just be able to get by. So why be greedy?" But the younger workers don't listen to him, and he's very aware of the fact. Everyone works at his or her own pace and rhythm: cutting, scraping, pulling, sweating, tearing, shelling and cutting again.