Rotors of old electric motors beeing scrapped by a street scavenger for the copper wiring (Delhi)

Copper is valuable, so scavengers take apart old electric motors to remove the copper wiring from the rotors. To do that, they put the motor parts over a fire, that burns the wires coating and make them brittle and easier to remove from the rotors.

Then the steel rotors and the copper wiring are sold by the weight to metal recyclers.

Most electrical and electronic recycling like this one are done in Asian countries the cost of labor is very low, and where environmental and health laws are not enforced or don't even exist.