IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v46y2014i1p26-45.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Political Ecologies of Electronic Waste: Uncertainty and Legitimacy in the Governance of E-Waste Geographies

Author

Listed:
  • Graham Pickren

    (Department of Geography, University of Georgia, 210 Field Street, Athens, GA 30602, USA)

Abstract

Geographers broadly, and political ecologists in particular, have been at the forefront of analyzing the progressive linking of Northern consumption practices with livelihoods elsewhere, problematizing the devolution that places ‘citizen-consumers’, NGOs, and corporate actors as key political agents of protecting workers and environments, promoting ‘ethical’ trade, and ‘greening’ economies through their purchasing choices. Utilizing empirical work on the development of certification and labeling schemes designed to ensure the safe recycling of used electronics, or e-wastes, across a global supply chain, this paper extends lessons learned from these critical analyses of consumer politics to ongoing debates about e-waste, trade, and recycling. I highlight the ambiguities and democratic deficits that emerge from promoting global environmental justice politics through market-driven disposal choices. I analyze the practices of representation through which NGOs and institutions produce e-waste as an object of regulation/commodification that is amenable to consumer action and argue that there is a disconnect between the abstractions necessary to sell ‘ethical’ e-waste recycling and the nuances of place-specific recycling practices. Like other fair trade schemes, certifications for ethical electronics recyclers rely upon narratives, such as environmental justice, that construct the e-waste problem in ways that render it governable, or ‘legible’ in Scott's sense. However, given the complexity of global commodity-networks like those for used electronics, these governing narratives rely on abstractions that oversimplify and rework the fetish of what e-waste is, where it goes, and how it should be managed. In unearthing both what labels do as well as the silences and ambiguities embedded within them, the limits and opportunities of consumer-driven waste politics come more clearly into view.

Suggested Citation

  • Graham Pickren, 2014. "Political Ecologies of Electronic Waste: Uncertainty and Legitimacy in the Governance of E-Waste Geographies," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(1), pages 26-45, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:46:y:2014:i:1:p:26-45
    DOI: 10.1068/a45728
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a45728
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a45728?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vandergeest, Peter, 2007. "Certification and Communities: Alternatives for Regulating the Environmental and Social Impacts of Shrimp Farming," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1152-1171, July.
    2. Nicky Gregson & Mike Crang & Farid Uddin Ahamed & Nasreen Akter & Raihana Ferdous & Sadat Foisal & Ray Hudson, 2012. "Territorial Agglomeration and Industrial Symbiosis: Sitakunda-Bhatiary, Bangladesh, as a Secondary Processing Complex," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 88(1), pages 37-58, January.
    3. James McCarthy, 2002. "First World Political Ecology: Lessons from the Wise Use Movement," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 34(7), pages 1281-1302, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Belton, Ben & Haque, Mohammad Mahfujul & Little, David C. & Sinh, Le Xuan, 2011. "Certifying catfish in Vietnam and Bangladesh: Who will make the grade and will it matter?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 289-299, April.
    2. Ruth Lane, 2014. "Understanding the Dynamic Character of Value in Recycling Metals from Australia," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-16, April.
    3. George Halkos & Stylianos Nomikos & Antonis Skouloudis, 2021. "Revisiting ISO 14001 diffusion among national terrains: panel data evidence from OECD countries and the BRIICS," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 23(4), pages 781-803, October.
    4. Janina Grabs & Graeme Auld & Benjamin Cashore, 2021. "Private regulation, public policy, and the perils of adverse ontological selection," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(4), pages 1183-1208, October.
    5. Tol, Richard S.J., 2017. "The structure of the climate debate," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 431-438.
    6. World Bank, 2009. "Local Government Discretion and Accountability : Application of a Local Governance Framework," World Bank Publications - Reports 12588, The World Bank Group.
    7. M. Kumaran & M. Sundaram & Shijo Mathew & P. R. Anand & T. K. Ghoshal & P. Kumararaja & R. Anandaraja & Shyne Anand & K. K. Vijayan, 2021. "Is Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) farming in India sustainable? A multidimensional indicators-based assessment," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 6466-6480, April.
    8. Mizanur Rahman, S.M. & Mayer, Audrey L., 2015. "How social ties influence metal resource flows in the Bangladesh ship recycling industry," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 104(PA), pages 254-264.
    9. Maureen G Reed, 2007. "Uneven Environmental Management: A Canadian Comparative Political Ecology," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(2), pages 320-338, February.
    10. Isabel Maria Bodas Freitas & Michiko Iizuka, 2008. "Standards compliance as an alternative learning opportunity under globalization in Latin America," SPRU Working Paper Series 172, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    11. Bartley Tim, 2010. "Transnational Private Regulation in Practice: The Limits of Forest and Labor Standards Certification in Indonesia," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(3), pages 1-36, October.
    12. Hatanaka, Maki, 2010. "Certification, Partnership, and Morality in an Organic Shrimp Network: Rethinking Transnational Alternative Agrifood Networks," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 706-716, May.
    13. Alida Cantor & Sarah Knuth, 2019. "Speculations on the postnatural: Restoration, accumulation, and sacrifice at the Salton Sea," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(2), pages 527-544, March.
    14. Sun, Yixian & van der Ven, Hamish, 2020. "Swimming in their own direction: Explaining domestic variation in homegrown sustainability governance for aquaculture in Asia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    15. Michiko Iizuka, 2009. "Standards as a platform for innovation and learning in the global economy: a case study of the Chilean salmon farming industry," International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 2(4), pages 274-293.
    16. Marschke, Melissa & Wilkings, Ann, 2014. "Is certification a viable option for small producer fish farmers in the global south? Insights from Vietnam," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(PA), pages 197-206.
    17. Anh, Pham Thi & Kroeze, Carolien & Bush, Simon R. & Mol, Arthur P.J., 2010. "Water pollution by intensive brackish shrimp farming in south-east Vietnam: Causes and options for control," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(6), pages 872-882, June.
    18. Theresa Selfa & Joanna Endter-Wada, 2008. "The Politics of Community-Based Conservation in Natural Resource Management: A Focus for International Comparative Analysis," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(4), pages 948-965, April.
    19. McCarthy, John F. & Gillespie, Piers & Zen, Zahari, 2012. "Swimming Upstream: Local Indonesian Production Networks in “Globalized” Palm Oil Production," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 555-569.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:46:y:2014:i:1:p:26-45. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.