Economies of Recycling (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781780321943)

For some, recycling is a big business; for others a moralised way of engaging with the world. But, for many, this is a dangerous way of earning a living. With scrap now being the largest export category from the US to China, the sheer scale of this global trade has not yet been clearly identified or analysed. Combining fine-grained ethnographic analysis with overviews of international material flows, Economies of Recycling radically changes the way we understand global and local economies as well as the new social relations and identities created by recycling processes.

Following global material chains, this groundbreaking book reveals astonishing connections between persons, households, cities and global regions as objects are reworked, taken to pieces and traded. With case studies from Africa, Latin America, South Asia, China, the former Soviet Union, North America and Europe, this timely collection debunks common linear understandings of production, exchange and consumption and argues for a complete re-evaluation of North-South economic relationships.

Author: Catherine Alexander
ISBN-10: 1780321945
ISBN-13: 9781780321943
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Language: English
Published: 08/09/2012
Pages: 312
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.70d