Actor-Network Theory on Waste Management

Abstract

In developing countries, territorial planners are confronted with rapid urbanization and its inherent solid waste management (SWM) which has increased public health risks, and generated environmental and socio-economic problems too. To analyze these issues, a University campus (as a scaled city) was studied applying the Actor-Network Theory to find key elements to take into account for sustainable SWM programs not only in universities but also in cities. To achieve this goal, different actors and relationships between them were identified, as well as their dynamics throughout the SWM history. Some findings were that Environmental City's Authorities requirements have been the main cause of actions related to hazardous waste within the campus, while scholar's interests have initiated non-hazards. Otherwise, documents, operative committees, and scholars involved in milestones, have become as the main support for decision-makers. Researchers also verified that decision have not been made through systematic processes neither from a systems approach.

The Interface between Political Ecology and Actor–Network Theory: Exploring the Reality of Waste

“…Multiple studies that used ANT in their analysis of waste issues are Gille (2010) who used ANT to analyse the interface between waste and society, Lepawsky and Mather (2011), who applied ANT to study electronic waste issues in Bangladesh and Canada. Wastewater issues in the UK were studied by Bowler (1999), and ANT has also been used in the case study of waste management on university campuses (Méndez-Fajardo & Gonzalez, 2014).…”