37°: Alles Schrott – Menschen, die vom Trödel leben (ZDF)

Writer and Director: Sibylle Trost

Producer: Brigitta Schübeler

Line producer: Anke Meyer

Executive Producer: Hartmut Klenke

Locations: Berlin, Leipzig

Broadcast:
Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 10:15 PM on ZDF as part of the 37° series

Length: 30´

 

Content:

Living from what others throw away. In this time of economic crisis and rising unemployment, making money from scrap and junk is an attractive source of income for some people.

Whether they collect scrap metal, clear out apartments of the deceased, sell junk or have stands at a flea market, more and more people are making money out of old things. People such as Ralf Sternheimer who specializes in clearing out apartments and says “Things that other people think are worthless are valuable for me.” He even uses the flowers from apartments he clears out to decorate his storefront. He does not have the heart to simply throw away the plants or old photographs from the lives of the deceased. Sternheimer sees life stories in the things he clears out, and sometimes he gazes in admiration at the pictures of the people whose last possessions are now his livelihood.

“I prefer to be my own boss and get my hands dirty with scrap metal rather than to sit in a suit in an office,” says scrap dealer Stefan Manteuffel from Berlin. When he was just 15, he spent some time in his father’s scrap dealership and decided the honorable trade was also for him. Today, he employs five people. Despite the economic crisis, Stefan Manteuffel can’t complain. He has a solid customer base and says, “There is always scrap, whether at construction sites or factories. I pick up the metal and sometimes I pay a bit for it.”

37° goes into the milieu of scrap dealers, metal collectors, junk and flea market professionals, and those who clear out apartments. In short, the world of people who use what other people throw away or think has become useless and unusable