Waste: A Reader About the Global Routes of Rubbish traces the political, economic and material life of waste — from the households and industries of the Global North to the processing sites and dumping grounds of the Global South where it ultimately arrives.
About This Book
Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name, this reader assembles interdisciplinary essays by scientists, artists and critical thinkers to interrogate what waste reveals about the structures of the global economy. The questions it poses are deliberately uncomfortable: who profits from waste, and who bears its consequences? How does the physical distance between waste's origin and its destination keep it invisible to those who generate it? And what might a genuinely utopian relationship to waste look like? Rather than retreating into abstraction, the essays ground these questions in the realities of industrial production, recycling systems and material circulation — making this an essential text for anyone thinking seriously about sustainability, ecology and design responsibility.
Key Features
- 166 pages of interdisciplinary essays by scientists and artists, with examples of best practice and exhibition reflections
- Contributors include Amanda Boetzkes, Jennifer Gabrys, Susi Gutsche, Annabel Keenan, Roman Köster, Nedine Moonsamy, Oliver Schlaudt, Evelyn Wan, and others
- Published by Spector Books
What You'll Discover
- How the global trade in waste creates an asymmetry of harm — with the Global North generating waste that is processed, reused or dumped in the Global South
- The mechanisms by which waste disappears from public consciousness in the places where it is produced
- What economic systems sustain and profit from waste, and who carries the cost when those systems fail
- Utopian propositions for reimagining our relationship to waste, drawn from artistic practice and critical theory
About the Author
This reader brings together contributions from Amanda Boetzkes, Jennifer Gabrys, Susi Gutsche, Annabel Keenan, Roman Köster, Nedine Moonsamy, Oliver Schlaudt and Evelyn Wan, among others — a cross-disciplinary group of scientists, artists and theorists convened around the themes of the exhibition.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 166
- Dimensions: 15 × 19 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783959059619
- Publisher: Spector Books
- Publication Date: 2026
Perfect For: Designers, architects, urban researchers and theorists engaged with sustainability, material economies and the political ecology of the built and consumed world.