Salvage

Amy C. Elliot (2019, Canada, 57 min.)

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” You might think it’s cliche, but the residents of Yellowknife, Canada believe this expression is deeply ingrained in their identities and sense of community! This colorful Northwest Territory town has a large, unrestricted dump that people from all backgrounds come to salvage. From dirt-stained but lovable teddy bears to 60 pounds of dry vermicelli noodles–thrifty salvagers see ways to reuse and reduce what others think of as waste. However, some city officials want to close the dump. Do they really fear safety and liability issues or do they just want to put a “modern” facade on the city’s waste management? Will a way of life fade into a quirky hobby of eccentric personalities seemingly stuck in the past? Whose way of thinking about people’s relationship with material goods will prevail?

Amy C. Elliot’s Salvage raises profound issues about our systems of consumption, disposal, and relationship to materials. Accompanying her feature film will be a selection of waste- and consumption-themed short films that can open a larger conversation at Penn State and in Centre County about how we want to manage our materials. This screening is co-sponsored by the Borough of State College and is part of their year-long conversation on plastic management.

The feature film will be preceded by a 30-minute program of three short films on related issues of plastic waste, waste management, and food waste. Following the screening, we will have a discussion with a panel of leaders in waste stream management from the Centre County region and Penn State University.