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A Season for Plastics
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This study examines how plastic flows in Blantyre, Malawi — a hub of plastic manufacturing — fluctuate with non-plastic rhythms such as rainy seasons, maize cultivation cycles, and economic pressures, arguing that plastics are deeply embedded in social life and that their recycling and circulation follow seasonal rather than purely industrial patterns.
Abstract This article examines the temporal complexity of polyethylene plastics in Blantyre, Malawi. As the location of the country's main plastic manufacturers, all kinds of plastics flow through the city. However, various non-plastic times intersect with these flows, from rainy seasons to the sowing of maize, the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, and the availability of fertilizer. Movements of local plastics thereby fluctuate according to other times and rhythms. Recycled plastics, for example, are harvested, washed, dried, crushed, packed, and resold at some times of the year and not others, depending on various economic, political, social, and cultural factors. The resulting seasonality of plastics underlines that they are deeply embedded in the ever-changing complexities of social life, co-constituting contested socio-economic presents with their unique temporal and material qualities.
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