Waste

In its broadest sense, waste refers to the residues, leftovers, and discards of commodity production, consumption, and disposal. Where there are consumer goods and consumer practices, there will always be wastes, be these the materials expended and cast out by the extractive industries or by manufacturing [Page 1519]processes, the residues of global transportation and distribution networks, the leftovers of an activity as mundane as the preparation and eating of a family meal, or the immaterial wastes of accounting. Wastes are as much part of consumer culture as the more familiar TVs and fridges, PCs and PlayStations, and iPods and mobile phones. Moreover, consumer goods themselves become waste. Outmoded, broken-down, irreparable, used-up, and expended, discarded consumer goods are the relics or fossils of consumption. Labeled as ...