Abstract
Waste cannot be understood in linear fashion as its boundaries are loosely defined. Waste entails different paradoxical dimensions (material/social; profit/worthlessness; useful/superfluous) and reveals a great deal with regards to lifestyle and prevailing social values as well as notions of development. In order to explore the idea that waste is an inherent and unavoidable condition that gave rise to social, cultural, economic and technical responses, this article is structured in three parts.
Firstly a synoptic review and analysis is made of the theme of waste, following the argument that waste considered to be a “problem” is a product of increasing industrialisation and urbanisation. Then attitudes to waste are examined from a cultural point of view, whereby sensitivities, mentalities and philosophical and medical convictions are encouraged by the sanitisation of public spaces, greater individuality, and the refinement of manners (such as repulsion at the presence of waste and its smell). Secondly, waste is presented as a global environmental issue and as a factor which stimulates international political measures, leads to technical innovations, and involves multiple networks and institutions. Waste represents a threat to the environment and public health which adversely affect future generations, and cannot be solved by the development model which produced it. Indeed, waste management activities can also be significant business opportunities. Finally, waste is analysed as a commodity, whereby a waste product at one stage, may then become a resource at the next stage. Two examples are presented: the aestheticisation of waste by artists, and waste as a habitat for people who live from and are surrounded by waste.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
This point of sanitization and sensitivities is discussed in more detail in Jerónimo (2010).
- 3.
The connection Melosi establishes should be seen in a non-linear way. For example, industrialization in Britain began outside the cities, and the growth of the great European cities in the nineteenth century was only partly due to industrialization. For these reasons, urban disease can only partly be blamed on industry, even if it was indirectly responsible in that it made large-scale mass consumption possible and actively encouraged it.
- 4.
In the English-language literature, we often find the expression out of sight, out of mind to express the notion of removing waste far from where it can be seen, smelled or touched by humans.
- 5.
In the twenty-first century, sanitary and living conditions for many millions of people in cities of Africa, Asia and Latin America are hardly decent, or even non-existent. Here the problem of what to do with human excrement continues to be a daily concern and a real danger in ecological and public health terms. In this connection see the troubling data contained in Black and Fawcett (2008) and George (2008).
- 6.
For a deeper understanding of the historical development of infrastructure and mental attitudes, see the monumental work by Philippe Ariès and Georges Duby, Histoire de la Vie Privée (1987), which belongs to the French historiographic tradition of the Annales. Among numerous examples, we may cite changing attitudes to the kitchen and the bathroom, which until then had been objects of utter indifference and even contempt. On these two types of space, see Wright (1960), Lupton and Miller (1996), and Horan (1996).
- 7.
The study, directed by Dennis and Donella Meadows, under the title The Limits to Growth, concluded that the limits to planetary growth would be reached within a short period of time (a maximum of 100 years), if levels of industrialization, pollution, food production and exhaustion of natural resources were maintained (Meadows et al. 1972). There were many reactions to what was regarded as mere apocalyptical speculation–all the more so because the study called for neo-Malthusianism, or a theory of zero growth in population and industry, as a solution to the imminent “catastrophe” –, but the report did have the merit of placing the environmental issue on the political agenda and of warning of the urgent need for a slowdown. After this first report, the same team has conducted a 20-year update of the original study and published the results in Beyond the Limits, in 1992, in addition to the report entitled Limits to Growth: the 30-Year Update.
- 8.
It is worth recalling the accident at Love Canal (in Niagara Falls, New York) because it was the first hazardous waste disposal case to draw international attention. The canal had originally been built in 1890 by William T. Love (hence its name) to serve as a water channel, but it was never concluded, and ended up being used as a dump for chemical waste from the 1930s to the 1950s. When it became full of waste, it was covered over and sold. Residential houses and a school were built on top of it. It was not long before the inhabitants started to complain of strange smells and health problems. In 1980, the Love Canal area was declared a federal emergency area by President Carter. The fact that this was the first time such a declaration had been made marks the beginning of a time of awareness of the risks associated with hazardous waste disposal (Levine 1982).
- 9.
According to data on the European Union website, http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/waste/index.htm, accessed on May 2013.
- 10.
Unlike other economists of his day, who tended to explain wealth creation on the basis of factors of production, Veblen finds the engine of economic development in consumption. He highlights the functions of objects of consumption as measures of value and social differentiation as being more important than their practical and functional status. The concept of conspicuous consumption represented the aristocratic style of life, of the so-called “leisure class,” founded on ostentation and wasteful expenditure. Excessive consumption and the waste of time, whether directly or by proxy, was seen as a sign of wealth, social status and prestige, in sum, a symbol of belonging to a privileged group. Veblen does show that consumption by an individual or by a social group is not independent of consumption by others, contrary to what was stated by rational choice theory.
- 11.
I would like to express my thanks to Rafael Marques for calling my attention to this point.
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Jerónimo, H.M. (2015). Technology and Ecological Values: Confronting Normal Waste as Unavoidable Matter in Modern Society. In: Gonzalez, W. (eds) New Perspectives on Technology, Values, and Ethics. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 315. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21870-0_10
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