Interview transcript.
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What is your name?
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My name is Freddy Quispe Solano.
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What is your work?
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I have always dedicated myself to purchase things for recycling, like electronics, computer systems, transformers, televisions, PCs, screens.
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And where are we now?
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I've been here in this market for 25 years.
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We began in the other part of Giron Paruro, which is Giron Leticia. The market used to be mainly in Paruro, and Giron Leticia, which today is full, it used to be only a block, in the street, and that's it.
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We live of purchasing and selling electronic devices.
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Recycling...
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And they also used to repair machines?
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Yes, they repaired things, liked washing machines, or back then VHS players, the tube-TVs, all those things.
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We'd take apart transformers. These are small ones, but the high-voltage transformers, those are big.
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All those things, everything which has to do with electronics.
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And at the beginning it was always repair? Or sales?
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Most people here - although many are old - we've dedicated ourselves to repairing what can be repaired, and taking apart that which can't be fixed.
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So reparations is an integral part of purchasing and selling electronics?
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Yes, as I mentioned, the things we'd repair used to be more antique. Now it's been 25 years already, and the difference is abysmal with how things are today.
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The things back in the day were old, now all devices are modern. Be it computers, or TVs which are now LED.
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What was the first device you ever repaired?
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Well, back in the day I'd buy the tube TVs of the brands SEN, Phillips, Royal, National, Sony. And that which could be fixed would be repaired, and the rest was taken apart.
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Why did you begin in this line of work?
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It was a source of income, a source of employment. I used to work in a company, but I quit and came to work in this market.
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From back then to today, here I am.
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And are you from the nearby region?
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No, I am from the province, I'm from the countryside, but I've been living here for 30 years.
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Now I know that this is where I will remain, in this market, since I've been here for a long time.
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My children have grown up here, built their families.
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How many children do you have?
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Three, two men and one woman.
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And do they work in this sector?
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One of my boys, the eldest, does. He now works for a large recylcer, San Antonio, one of the most important. It would be good for you to visit that plant.
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Yes, we went last year.
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Ok.
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Those things are good for him too. They might raise his bonus.
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Recycling is in a boom nowadays!
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And when you arrived here 25 years ago, what was the street like?
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Giron was a dirt road, there still were no concrete floors.
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More than half of this part was abandoned. Only the first half a block. All this was abandoned, no one came to this part of town.
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And then what happened to make it what it is today?
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The market grew little by little. More computer and electronics were circulating, with computer imports from the USA. I also imported from the USA, mainly screens.
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Along with other friends. So the market grew progressively.
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The plots were cheap, super cheap. Nowadays, they are very expensive!
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Even the rent. You can't even consider the idea of buying a plot to set up your stand, only rent.
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Why did that happen?
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As the business grew, more people came, and the market grew. And more imports were coming in.
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And they would end up here, and that merchandise ended up here.
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Even the large national companies would sell their material here.
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For example, I recently applied to Plaza Vea, to manage a room full of stuff. We are still awaiting the response, who knows if I won.
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And all the big companies of Peru auction their stuff.
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But now, many companies no longer auction off their material, they give it to the companies that have INCOMPREHENSIBLE (riper?), they just give it off, and don't have sales anymore. They give it because it helps the environment. That's the case of San Antonio, for example.
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What kind of people attends this market? Are they companies?
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There are some companies who come, but it's mainly the black market, users who come here to repair their things, or purchase used devices, second-hand.
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Are they from the province, or from Lima?
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People come from the whole country, from Lima, from the nearby region.
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Many people come from the province to take back used devices to the countryside, computers for example.
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Perhaps I'm mistaken, but last year I remember someone telling us that people would come from the countryside looking for ERT screens.
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Yes, some people still use those. Not as many as before, but you can find them. I don't have any here.
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Some do still use the ERT, but in small proportions. Normally they are simply taken apart and finish as scrap.
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Can you tell us what you do with the electronic parts?
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When computers are taken apart, it goes in parts. The tin can which is the exterior part goes to scrap parts.
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The motherboard is sold to the importer, who takes them out of the country. The video cards, memories, hard-disks are all sent outside of the country.
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The hard-disks are used from aluminum.
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And the magnet that comes out of that, which is nowadays being used for a number of inventions, for engineering work, those are purchased by the students.
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The magnets of the hard-disk, which is a incredibly strong!
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Could you say that there is a market for every part?
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There's a market for everything.
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For televisions also, people purchase them here and re-sell them in the countryside or here in Lima.
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And everything that can't be sold goes to scrap parts.
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Can you tell us a bit about the evolution of the plastics of electronics, where they used to go and where they go today?
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Previously, plastics used to be thrown away in the garbage, they weren't worth anything.
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But now they are being purchased, by the ton. So people don't throw it away now, they gather it for sale.
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Antonio purchases that stuff. Now it's purchased, whilst before it used to be thrown away.
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Now if I have some plastic I just leave it on the side for others, since in order to sell plastics you need to gather a large amount, and truck-load.
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And someone takes that plastic?
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Yes, there are people who dedicate themselves to gathering plastic.
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And that ends up in another country, it's taken away as a raw material.
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Antonio, in the factory, has an elaborate system to process plastic. He has provided new ideas to that company, San Antonio.
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How did he begin in that company?
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Antonio started in the streets first, with a tricycle with his father. And I was one of the first to sell him circuits. And from there on...
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He kept growing
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Of course, because he has a contact with his uncle in Canton, China, who is a main recycler, with a 20 to 30 hectare plot for recycling.
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Antonio started off with this contact, and has done pretty well for himself as you can see.
