Recycling. It’s a word we hear all the time, yet the process behind it frequently remains poorly understood. We throw items into blue bins, with the expectation that they will be given a second life. But what actually happens in this process? Explaining “recycling” requires describing a complicated process, which includes gathering, sorting, processing, and […]
Personal Reflection on Recycling Read More »
A major issue with the recycling system is that most of the items recycled (with or without the special recycling arrow symbol) end up returned in the landfill or as other waste. Despite this, many people do not realize this and continue to recycle and assume that it is something that is actually environmentally beneficial.
Recycling or Redirection Read More »
This week’s work was quite illuminating in terms of discovering how recycling works on a practical level. However, it has many fatal flaws that prevent it from being as effective as we’d hope or assume it would be in our collective subconscious. There are plenty of examples that illustrate this point. The first is that
the importance of words and how to rethink (plastics)recycling Read More »
Thinking about waste through the lens of ‘distancing’ and ‘recycling’ has made me realize just how easy it is to detach ourselves from the consequences of what we throw away. Before taking this class, I never really thought about what was happening to waste after being put in a bin. Recycling is for many ‘convenient’
The Illusion of Recycling Read More »
Questions for this week: What political functions do waste infrastructures serve? How does ‘distancing’ function? Do we accept this general argument? What actually happens with ‘recycling?’ Can recycling ever deliver on its promises? How have policies enacted by China in the last few years affected the global waste/recycling trade? Readings:
Distancing and recycling Read More »
During the readings on disposability, I was surprised to notice a stark contrast between the article written in the plastics journal in the 1950/60s, and the ones more recently. “The future of plastics is in the trash” is indisputably a sentence we can look back on and only sense irony, but why was it said
Reflection on Disposability as human and scientific progress Read More »
For this week’s waste tracking, I took a picture of my trashcan at my mom’s house once again. The image shows various paper items and a big ginger ale bottle. A key point to highlight for this week is the fact that my mom and grandma were both sick during this weekend, and it is
Disposability was heavily promoted in the early stages of industrialization, especially as capitalist ideologies took hold. The economic benefits of a throwaway culture were prioritized over long-term environmental consequences. What began as an innovative concept quickly became a matter of convenience, with disposability now deeply ingrained in daily life. While disposable products contribute to pollution,
Flaws of Disposability Read More »
When I first think about the term ‘disposability’, what comes to mind is usually single-use items such as plastic utensils, paper cups, or packaging that’s used once and then thrown away. But as I’ve learned in class, disposability goes beyond objects. It’s a mindset shaped by our political and economic systems, where both things and
Personal Reflection on Disposability. Read More »
In many countries, businesses have used the idea of a “family business” for many reasons, though not all good. Though sometimes family businesses can be a good idea, especially in local businesses and name for actual family-owned businesses, many manipulate this label as familial in other ways. Many people and customers especially like the idea
Family Business is not always as it seems Read More »