Waste: A Reader about the Global Routes of Rubbish

An interdisciplinary treatise on waste’s global ramifications, illustrated by thematically relevant artwork from the last two centuries

What does waste have to tell us about our world? Who profits from waste, and who is harmed by it? And what utopian ideas can waste engender? The Global North generates huge quantities of personal and industrial waste, yet the bulk of it ends up in the Global South, where waste is reused, processed further, or simply dumped. As a result, waste―along with the onward trajectory it follows―remains out of the public eye in the places it is created. This reader displays approximately 50 international works of art from the 20th and 21st centuries, including two newly commissioned works, that contend with the global crisis of waste. Delving into the themes probed by the artworks, the volume also features interdisciplinary essays by scientists and artists, examples of best waste practice and reflections on the development of the accompanying exhibition.