Discard Studies is a website designed as an online hub for scholars, activists, environmentalists, students, artists, planners, and others whose work touches on themes relevant to the study of waste and wasting.
This chapter from the virtual exhibition “The Life of Waste” discusses the origins of waste, our methods of consumption and the consequent production of waste, and how we learn to waste.
This chapter from the virtual exhibition “The Life of Waste” sheds light on what people think waste is and is not, the cultural and normative conceptions of waste, and forms and landscapes of waste.
This chapter from the virtual exhibition “The Life of Waste” considers the myriad practices of managing waste, such as burning, burying, discarding, disposal, reuse, and recycling.
This chapter from the virtual exhibition “The Life of Waste” highlights people who live with waste—landfill workers, waste pickers, trash collectors, sanitation workers—and the social, economic, and health challenges they face.
This chapter from the virtual exhibition “The Life of Waste” discusses the call for radical changes in our consumption and production patterns, and littering behavior. It explores the concepts of zero waste, upcycling, and recycling.
This chapter from the virtual exhibition “The Life of Waste” considers the ways in which waste relates to power. It aligns with power structures, can be an empowering feature, or possess power in and of itself.
This chapter introduces the virtual exhibition “The Life of Waste.” Historian Simone M. Müller discusses six truisms of waste, namely “everything is waste, waste is a matter of perspective, waste needs to be managed, waste is life, waste has power and waste has an expiration date.”
Vanesa Castán Broto critiques sustainable development agendas that approach green cities as merely engines of economic growth.
Jennifer Clapp examines the nature of international trade in toxic waste and the roles of multinational corporations and environmental NGOs. Waste transfer has become a routine practice for firms in industrialized countries and poor countries accept these imports but struggle to manage the materials safely. She argues that governments have failed to recognize the voices of protest.
