Today’s generations will be remembered for many things. We are the first communication and technology generations. The generations of widespread globalization. Of climate change. First wars on water. Migration crimes. The ones of the flourishing transnational social movements. But also, and in some senses most outstandingly, we are the generations of garbage. The “throwaway” worshippers. The disposable culture addicts.
A daily average of 0,74 kilograms of waste generated per person
According to The World Bank, we generate 2.01 billion tonnes of solid waste per year (What a Waste 2.0). But the industrialized way of life continues to expand and to impose itself. The urban “development” continues to be the fastest in human history. Cities, where waste consumption is clearly higher, continue to grow feverishly. If this continues, by 2050 we will be producing 3.4 billion per year (What a Waste 2.0).
Whichever way you look at it, these are unmanageable numbers. And The World Bank is not precisely critical of capitalism, consumerism, and its “development” model. Therefore, its reports tend to be way more conservative and complacent than reality.
Plastic and e-waste
Plastic continues to be one of the greater threats and the consumption of disposable ones gives no impression of diminishing. As a 2016 plastic industry report explains, the world’s plastic production has increased annually at least 8.6% since 1950. From 1.5 million tonnes then to almost 360 million tonnes in 2018. (Learn more)
Furthermore, electronic waste continues to multiply. Most digital devices are increasingly created to be thrown away. Planned obsolesce is widespread in the industry and the speediness with which we discard continues to increase year by year. Very few consider repairing electronic devices. Most prefer upgrading. Our worshipped phones, computers, tablets’ production, and disposals are one of the major causes for water, air, and soil pollution, human exploitation, and data insecurity (The Atlantic)
Environmental racism and toxic colonialism, waste colonialism or toxicomania colonialism
On the one hand, the term environmental racism refers to the systemic way by which environmental hazards affect more incisively the least powerful peoples, communities, countries, and/or races. The most privileged benefit mostly and generate most part of both toxic and non-toxic waste but have more power and sociopolitical control to avoid its impacts. In turn, the most dispossessed people benefit the least from the most polluting industries but suffer more severely its consequences.
On the other hand, waste colonialism refers to the general trend to export contaminating and hazardous rubbish from the “Global North” to the “Global South”.
Both concepts take place both locally and geopolitically. For instance, at the nation-state level, many governments and multinational companies worldwide have historically used native lands for waste disposal and illegal dumping or used their territories to test environmentally risky technologies. Transnationally, the considered “developed countries” have been exporting waste to the African continent and South-East Asia for generations.
Recycling?
At this point, I hope we are all aware that recycling is not a serious response to this grim reality. Indeed, plenty of all waste trade is done under the guise of recycling.
We need to understand that the vast majority of today’s “ecological” and waste treatment solutions are mightily racist and self-complacent.
Instead of trying to hide capitalism under “green-wash” disguises, we need to urgently face reality: our way of life, the way of life of the industrialized societies is unsustainable. And it won’t turn sustainable magically.
As long as we don’t guarantee an industry contraction and a drastic reduction of consumption we will continue to drown in waste.
Indigenous peoples
In addition, we need to bolster a more intersectional environmental and conservationism model that centers and values indigenous knowledge. Nowadays, by all forms of neocolonialism, cultural hegemony and hegemonic violence indigenous peoples are being wiped out from the face of the Earth.
If we are to survive the climate chaos, we need human diversity. We need indigenous knowledge(s) to be able to put in practice real solutions capable of challenging the current disposable culture system (Learn more).