schaffer_shifts_in_sign_systems


 * Shifts in Sign Systems**

There are two key shifts I see at present: a shift in the utility of waste and a shift in individual responsibilities for waste.

Framing waste as useful is new only in the sense that it useful waste is waste; the conception of household waste as abject and unsalvageable that appeared in the early 20th century replaced a closed-loop conception of the //oikos// in which the by-products of systems that couldn’t be eaten or worn were burned for fuel, fed to pigs, torn into rags, etc (Strasser, 1999). This is possibly a romantic notion of pre-20th century household…

In any event, the current use of “resource management,” rather than “waste management” (borrowing, it seems, from human resources discourse), is an effort to reframe the waste stream as useful things that have been tragically mis-framed. Rather, waste can live a new life of utility in another place, as a soda bottle or as a garden in front of a state office building. Resource is typically positioned as an alternative to waste, in the abject, bury it underground, put it on a barge and send it out to sea sense. This framing is //far// from dominant, but it carries some sway in the field. See also //recovery//.

Since the introduction of recycling laws, the wasting subject has gone from one who produces waste to one who sorts it. The responsibility of the wasting subject—and this depends on location, culture, and place in the household—includes doing the right thing with their trash, in order to protect the environment and the nation from uncategorized waste. This responsibility, however, extends only so far as putting things in the appropriate bin; to re-use things once finished with them, or to reduce one's garbage really goes above and beyond.

The shifts I see taking place among waste activists like those of Troy Compost includes both a re-utilization of waste and an emphasis on the hazardousness of normal waste (landfill crisis, greenhouse gases). Food waste becomes not only useful but dangerous. Meanwhile, the responsibility for waste seems to shift; not only should one sort out more types of trash, one should also consciously seek out new avenues of disposal (neighborhood compost, etc) and move the waste around oneself. Furthermore, in valorizing that waste, there's a new common-sense I've seen in some framings where the food scraps/yard waste that you put in the system should earn you compost that you can use. Unlike the 5 cent bottle bill, this sort of personal waste exchange carries a sense of biological transformation, not economic transaction...