Why Garbage? Why India?

In just a few short months I will depart for India wide eyed and excited to immerse myself in the study of garbage – every grimy smelly dirty aspect of it. Armed with rubber galoshes and an industrial size box of latex gloves, a gift promised by my grandmother, I will be exploring the most remote corner offices of waste management conglomerates and speaking with academics, government officials, waste collectors, and waste producers. And of course somewhere along the line I’ll see a landfill or two.

But why should anyone besides the composting few care to read about my adventures? Because garbage is everything. It is politics of class, race, and wealth. Garbage is economics, business, and government. Garbage is culture, is history, is individuals and the environment. Put simply, the waste management industry is a mud puddled reflection of  society.

Nowhere is this more true than in India. From informal waste collectors and recyclers to multinational corporations, and government officials to environmentally conscious entrepreneurs, practically every sector of the economy has ties to garbage. And as the piles grow larger so do the stakes.

I promise my readers here and now that this blog will never lecture you on your poor recycling habits. Instead, through stories, interviews and frank analysis we will learn what recycling really means. In the end we will find ourselves with a full collage of the different ways waste can be used and managed on a systemic level.

In the United States and Europe garbage has become an issue of good morals and ethical values. For many others in the world it is a much more immediate question of living standards, poverty, and human rights. What can developed countries with embedded systems of waste learn from informal sectors that scavenge through global refuse? What does regulation mean for the global waste trade? How are communities and countries working to build modern systems? These are some of the questions this blog will tackle. I encourage you to comment throughout and, if the mood strikes you, send me any longer pieces, photos and other media that you would like to contribute to the discussion.