Rendering Renewable: Technoscience and the Political Economy of Waste-to-Energy Regulation in the European Union

Contaminant, Commodity and Fuel: A Multi‐sited Study of Waste's roles in Urban Transformations from Italy to Austria

“…However, because of the liberalization of the EU waste market in 2008 (Behrsin, 2019), a fraction of Campania's MSW is also shipped north towards other Italian regions and European countries. Turning the excess waste for which Campania lacks treatment capacity into a tradable commodity implies adherence to the protocols laid out by Regulation No 1013/2006 of the European Parliament on shipments of waste and must follow the categorizations of the European Waste Catalogue (EWC), ensuring the non-toxicity of municipal waste exports and their management according to European standards of environmental protection.…”

“…Critical waste studies have opened up waste ontologically to explain how these processes work. Waste infrastructure's multiple valences contribute ontological opportunities that serve political purposes (Harvey, 2017;Behrsin, 2019). Others have shown how waste can become a political catalyst for manifesting polities that offer counter claims to contest or rework particular territorializations (Moore, 2008;Armiero and D'Alisa, 2012).…”

“…For example, several residents expressed that they felt fine with the industrial emissions in the area because, as one remarked, 'everyone knows that all of our emissions get blown over to Vienna anyway' (interview, Ahrenberg, 7 April 2015). Despite this hierarchy, incineration has in fact outpaced recycling since the passage of the Waste Framework Directive, with the European Investment Bank investing 62% of its waste management budget in incineration projects (Behrsin, 2019). Likewise, the bottom ash is taken away to landfills elsewhere.…”

“…Others have shown how waste can become a political catalyst for manifesting polities that offer counter claims to contest or rework particular territorializations (Moore, 2008;Armiero and D'Alisa, 2012). Waste infrastructure's multiple valences contribute ontological opportunities that serve political purposes (Harvey, 2017;Behrsin, 2019). MSW in particular is both indeterminate and heterogeneous (Hird, 2012).…”

“…However, the circulation and incineration of southern Italian waste, among other sources, also masks more sustainable alternatives, including those lifted up by the European Commission's own 2008 Waste Framework Directive, which established a waste hierarchy that elevates waste reduction and recycling above incineration. Despite this hierarchy, incineration has in fact outpaced recycling since the passage of the Waste Framework Directive, with the European Investment Bank investing 62% of its waste management budget in incineration projects (Behrsin, 2019).…”