Plastics, Environment, Culture, and the Politics of Waste

The first comprehensive study of plastics, from the moment they were invented to the present day Expands the existing research on the materiality of plastic, considering it as both a disposable and durable product An essential read in times of environmental and health crises, when humanity must find new ways of existing and transform, among other things, our culture Packed with insight from 24 contributors across 17 chapters Plastics, Environment, Culture and the Politics of Waste examines plastic as a distinct cultural, political, and environmental phenomenon. It outlines the intricate relationship with plastic that humanity has been building over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, drawing on examples from history, the arts, and literature, as well as examining the place of plastics in the current health, environmental, and energy crises. The aim of this book is to reveal the complex nature of plastics, from their rapid incorporation into our advancing ways of life, to the reenvisioning of plastics' role in human life and how, through abundant production, consumption, and disposal of plastics, humanity has initiated a toxic invasion of natural environments and human and nonhuman bodies. Bringing together various perspectives from the humanities, this edited collection contributes to the ongoing research on plastics and petrocultures and emphasizes the crucial significance of addressing the plastic crisis through culture.