What is waste? To whom? - An anthropological perspective on garbage

Abstract

What is waste? To whom? - An anthropological perspective on garbage explores the fact that what constitutes waste is a highly subjective notion. In Tacna, Peru, the place from where this article draws its empirical material, waste is not only seen as a risk to public health and the environment. Some find it is a mere aesthetic inconvenience, for others it is the only source of income. Yet another way of perceiving waste is as a social contagion, in which the negative qualities of garbage are transmitted to surrounding people in the eyes of others. Such perceptions of waste, it is argued, are important parts of local waste management systems, and the understanding of such perceptions might increase the effectiveness of waste management campaigns.