Waste colonialism and metabolic flows in island territories

Abstract

Islands are tightly connected to globalized material flows, with specific constraints and vulnerabilities. They are not closed metabolic loops of consumption, production, and waste, favorable to the circular economy. Small islands allow the observation of the material outcomes of circulation, from overflowing dumpsites to marine debris washing up on the shore. We argue that islands are key territories for better understanding the Capitalocene, precisely because of the ways in which they are connected to (rather than isolated from) globalized material flows. This article is a comparative geographical analysis of waste realities in three French/formerly French island territories: Ndzuwani (Comoros), Réunion, and New Caledonia. It builds on metabolism analysis and waste studies—in particular waste colonialism—to address the different perspectives that these approaches open up for the study of island territories. The long-term sociohistorical context of each island helps to explain contemporary waste management policies and practices. A material flow analysis makes it possible to sketch out metabolic profiles that show the contribution of prevailing mining and agricultural industries to waste generation. The comparison of current situations regarding household waste discourses and economies shows how these territories are characterized by waste accumulation.

Les déchets post-catastrophes en milieu insulaire : une gestion contrainte par les proximités

“…La gestion des déchets dans les petites îles des départements, régions et territoires d'outre-mer français est fortement dépendante de leur insularité et des relations entretenues avec la métropole (Manglou, Rocher, Bahers, 2022). Ces espaces insulaires présentent la particularité d'avoir une économie fortement dépendante des importations et des exportations (Rocher et alii, 2021), s'exprimant de façon exacerbée après une catastrophe naturelle.…”

“…La région des Caraïbes, dans laquelle se situe notre terrain d'étude, est par ailleurs la région du monde la plus dépendante du tourisme (Singh, Fischer-Kowalski, Chertow, 2020), or cette économie produit elle-même une quantité importante de déchets (Eckelman et alii, 2014 ;Mohee et alii, 2015). Les modes de traitement des déchets favorisés sont leur stockage (mise en décharge) local ou leur exportation vers la France métropolitaine (pour les matières recyclables) (Manglou, Rocher, Bahers, 2022).…”

In, Out or Beyond? Waste Pickers and Policy Networks: A Story from Jardim Gramacho (Rio de Janeiro)

“…Incineration is indeed a sworn enemy of organized waste pickers, since deprives them of valuable materials, i.e., livelihoods, and disincentivizes sorted collection [5]. While incineration still has many supporters, these recent studies [6], alongside public policy initiatives [34][35][36] in different contexts, are emphasizing the need to look at different solutions and dismissing incineration considering its emissions in the cost-benefit analysis. A fundamental aspect that all the previous research highlighted when analyzing waste-picking in a historical trajectory is the rise of waste picker movements and, as a consequence, of waste picker cooperatives.…”

“…Waste management is, therefore, a multi-scale environmental justice problem. It is global because waste production generates CO 2 emissions and contributes to climate change and because waste is exported to lower-income countries [3][4][5][6]. It is local because the management of waste is a municipal government task, though it involves multiple actors and requires multilevel, cooperative, as well as well-coordinated, organization among them.…”

“…Moreover, the focus on technology has proven ineffective in improving waste management on a global scale. Locally tailored, even rudimentary, solutions can be more effective and less impactful than highly technologically sophisticated ones, such as incinerators, which are now increasingly recognized as problematic techno-fixes [11] to be dismantled or exported to developing countries [3,6]. Local communities play a critical role in identifying future alternatives to these past unsustainable solutions.…”