An Introduction to Reassembling Rubbish
The research questions driving the project include:
- What is the ‘right’ thing to do with e-waste? Where, how, and under what conditions should electronics be recycled?
- How might a better understanding of the knowledge, skills, and creativity of workers in foreign markets, who re-imagine and rework electronics disposed of in Canada and elsewhere into new commodities, lead to a rethinking of electronic waste as a potential source of value?
- Is a system of ‘ethical’ or ‘fair’ trade in e-waste – which would include, inter alia, material and component recovery as well as repair, refurbishing, and reuse of machines – a viable alternative to the existing strategies of national and international legal prohibitions against e-waste exports from ‘developed’ to ‘developing’ countries? If so, what would such a system of trade look like and how would it be regulated/governed?
The research is funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Council (SSHRC) Insight grant. More information about SSHRC can be found here. More information about the specific grant funding this project can be found here.
Publications related to this project
Lepawsky, Josh. 2014. The Changing Geography of Global Trade in Electronic Discards: time to rethink the e-waste problem. The Geographical Journal. DOI: 10.1111/geoj.12077 (Open Access: video abstract and article).
Lepawsky, Josh. 2014. Time to rethink the e-waste problem. Geography Directions Blog.
Lepawsky, Josh. 2012. Legal geographies of e-waste legislation in Canada and the US: Jurisdiction, responsibility and the taboo of production. Geoforum. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2012.03.006 (Open Access article)
Lepawsky, Josh and Billah, M. 2011. Making Chains that (Un)make Things: waste-value relations and the Bangladeshi rubbish electronics industry. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography. 93 (2), p. 121-139 (Open Access: article)
Lepawsky, Josh and Mather, C. 2011. From Beginnings and Endings to Boundaries and Edges: rethinking circulation and exchange through electronic waste. Area. 43 (3), p. 242-249 (Open Access: video abstract and article)
Lepawsky, Josh and C. McNabb. 2010. Mapping the international trade and traffic of electronic waste. The Canadian Geographer. 54 (2), 177-195 (Open Access: article)