Carried out between 1991 and 2008 on the themes of waste and recycling, Didier Ruef captured a variety of situations which reveals the face of humanity behind the waste it produces, recycles or has to endure. The work of a committed photographer, which urge the reader to understand and act, more forcefully than conventional calls, to protect the environment. For centuries man has recovered and recycled the residues of his productive activities. Then came the era of waste as everyday companion. Our affluent societies are fueling the growing production of goods without taking into account the waste that generates in itself, becoming an industry whose purpose is its elimination. Today, faced with demographic and economic growth and the increasing fragility of the ecosystems, it is no longer possible to bury our refuse and toxic waste with the illusion that we have disposed of it forever, that it has been irreversibly sterilised.

Bilingual French & English edition.