We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Plastics pollution as waste colonialism in Te Moananui
AI summary Read the abstract
Through interviews with nineteen key decision-makers, researchers examined how Pacific Island nations are affected by plastics pollution through the lens of waste colonialism. The study argues that the flow of plastic waste from wealthy nations to Pacific communities represents a form of environmental injustice, with island nations bearing disproportionate impacts from pollution they did not create.
Plastics pollution is a global, relational, integrated, and intersectoral issue. Here, we undertook narrative analysis of semi-structured interviews with nineteen key plastic pollution decision-makers. They offered a contextual lens to understand challenges facing Pacific Island (Te Moananui) nations in preventing plastics pollution. We build on the work of Ngata (2014-2021) and Liboiron (2014-2021) to situate the narrative analysis within a "waste colonialism" framework. We argue that plastics pollution as waste colonialism transcends environmental, policy, and industry concerns. "Indigenous political ecologies" of plastics pollution provide an understanding by which plastics pollution prevention can be examined at multiple scales. These include, at the international level: trade agreements and import dependency, donor aid and duplication, and transnational industry influence. At the local level: pressure from local plastics manufacturers, importers and suppliers, and barriers to accessing the latest science. Located within a global and regional context, our findings capture the systemic and long-standing impacts of colonialism on Indigenous responses to plastics pollution prevention and management, highlighting its effects on human and environment health and wellbeing. Sustainable solutions to plastics pollution for Te Moananui require the centering of its peoples and their deep, lived, and intergenerationally transmitted knowledges in the identification of challenges and solutions, the implementation of activities, and amplification of a shared regional voice.
More Papers Like This
From Waste Colonialism to Environmental Justice: Lessons from Indonesia’s Plastic Pollution Crisis
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers analyzed Indonesia's plastic pollution crisis through an environmental justice lens, finding that waste imports from the Global North exacerbate coastal contamination in Java and Bali, and arguing that community-led circular economy models and transnational accountability mechanisms are needed over purely technocratic solutions.
Tangled Waters: Equity-based Study of Plastic Pollution Impacts on Indigenous Communities in Fiji
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers examined the impacts of plastic pollution on Indigenous communities at three case study locations in Fiji, blending Indigenous knowledge systems with contemporary research methods and equity frameworks to assess distributional, procedural, and recognitional dimensions of plastic pollution. The year-long fieldwork-based study found that plastic pollution disproportionately burdens Indigenous communities and recommended improved waste management solutions grounded in community agency.
Waste Sovereignty and Plastic Colonialism: Environmental Power and Populism in the Global Political Economy of Waste
AI summary Read the abstract
Wealthy countries often ship their plastic trash to poorer nations that don't have the infrastructure to safely process it, meaning that waste frequently ends up burned or dumped instead of recycled. This matters for your health because poorly managed plastic waste breaks down into microplastics and toxic chemicals that can contaminate local water, food, and air — pollution that wealthier countries have essentially outsourced rather than eliminated. This paper is a theoretical analysis (not new lab data) proposing a framework for understanding this unequal waste trade and how affected communities are pushing back through bans and stricter regulations.
Paradise Trashed: Sources and solutions to marine litter in a small island developing state.
AI summary Read the abstract
This report reviewed sources of and solutions to marine litter in a Pacific island context, documenting plastic pollution threats to economically and ecologically important coastal ecosystems. It highlights the disproportionate impact of global plastic pollution on small island nations that contribute minimally to its production.
Confronting the material and structural leakiness of plastics: insights from multi-sited ethnography in India, Indonesia and the Philippines
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers used multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines to challenge OECD frameworks that attribute plastic pollution primarily to mismanaged waste in low- and middle-income countries, arguing that upstream petrochemical production in the Global North is a structurally obscured driver of plastic leakage.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.