In this article we discuss the possible impact of emphasizing the temporal dimension of `waste' on the conceptualization of waste management in late modern societies. Beginning with an analysis of a dominant discursive formation of waste management, we argue that a lack of concern for the temporal aspects of waste has led to a misconceptualization of the waste problematic. Bringing the temporal to the fore allows us to see waste differently, not as something that is to be shed, but as something that will always be with us, as that which we cannot get rid of, as that which is inherently unmanageable. We therefore propose a conceptualization of waste that involves much longer time-scales than those commonly applied to decision-making practices, a more differentiated sensitivity towards tempo and rhythm, and a more complex understanding of the timescapes of the future.
Adam, B.
(1990) Time and Social Theory. Cambridge: Polity Press.
2.
Adam, B.
(1995) Timewatch: The Social Analysis of Time. Cambridge: Polity Press.
3.
Adam, B.
, Beck, U., Van Loon, J. and Taraborrelli, P. (eds) (1997) Positioning Risk: Technologies and Futures. London: Sage.
4.
Allan, S.
(1995) `News, Truth and Postmodernity: Unraveling the Will to Facticity', in B. Adam and S. Allan (eds) Theorizing Culture: An Interdisciplinary Critique After Postmodernism, pp. 129-144. London: UCL Press.
5.
Baudrillard, J.
(1973/1993) Symbolic Exchange and Death, trans. I. Hamilton Grant. London: Sage.
6.
Baudrillard, J.
(1990) Fatal Strategies: Crystal Revenge, trans. Ph. Beitschman and W.G.J. Niesluchowski, ed. J. Fleming. New York: Semiotext(e).
7.
Beck, U.
(1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage.
8.
Brandom, R.
(1992) `Heidegger's Categories in Being and Time', in H. Dreyfus and H. Hall (eds) Heidegger: A Critical Reader, pp. 45-64. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.
9.
Deleuze, G.
and Guattari, F. (1986) Nomadology: The War Machine, trans. B. Massumi. New York: Semiotext(e).
10.
Derrida, J. (1967) La voix et le phénomène. Paris: PUF.
11.
Derrida, J.
(1974) Of Grammatology, trans. G. Chakravorty Spivak. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
12.
Derrida, J.
(1982) Margins of Philosophy, trans. A. Bass. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
13.
Harvey, D.
(1989) The Condition of Postmodernity. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
14.
Heidegger, M. (1927/1986) Sein und Zeit, 16th edn. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.
15.
Held, Martin and Geißler, K.H. (eds) (1993) Ökologie der Zeit: vom Finden der rechten Zeitmaße. Stuttgart: Universitas/S. Hirzel Wissenschaflicher Verlagsgesellschaft.
16.
Held, Martin and Geißler, K.H. (eds) (1995) Von Rhythmen und Eigenzeiten: Perspektiven einer Ökologie der Zeit. Stuttgart: Universitas/S. Hirzel Wissenschaftlicher Verlagsgesellschaft.
17.
Institute for Society and Enterprise
(1993) Waste Management and Waste Politics. The Hague: ISE.
18.
Jameson, F.
(1991) Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. London: Verso.
19.
Kümmerer, K. (1993) `Zeiten der Natur — Zeiten der Menschen. Ein Beitrag zur Ökologie der Zeit', in M. Held and K.H. Geißler (eds) Ökologie der Zeit: vom Finden der rechten Zeitmaße, pp. 85-104. Stuttgart: Universitas/S. Hirzel Wissenschaftlicher Verlagsgesellschaft.
20.
Kümmerer, K.
(1995) `The Ecological Impact of Time', Time & Society5(2): 209-235.
21.
Lash, S.
and Urry, J. (1994) Economies of Signs and Space. London: Sage.
22.
McLuhan, M.
(1964) Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
23.
Managers Meeting Government and Business (Managers Ontmoeting Overheid Bedrijfsleven) (1993) Afvalmanagement en Afvalpolitiek. Hoe krijgen wij de afvalberg binnen de perken? The Hague: SMO.
24.
Mandel, E. (1976) Het Laatkapitalisme. Proeve van een Marxistische Verklaring. Amsterdam: Van Gennep.
25.
Marx, K. (1890/1978) Het Kapitaal. Een Kritische Beschouwing over de Economie. Deel I: Het Productieproces van het Kapitaal, trans. I. Lipschits. Weesp: De Haan.
26.
Nowotny, H.
(1989/1994) Time: The Modern and Postmodern Experience, trans. N. Plaice. Cambridge: Polity Press.
27.
Sabelis, I.
(1996) `Temporal Paradoxes: Working with Cultural Diversity in Organizations', in W. Koot, I. Sabelis and S. Ybema (eds) Contradictions in Context: Puzzling over Paradoxes in Contemporary Organizations, pp. 171-192. Amsterdam: Free University Press.
28.
Touraine, A.
(1971) The Post-Industrial Society, trans. L.F.X. Mayhew. New York: Random House.
29.
Van den Nieuwenhof, R. (1996) Verinnerlijking van de Milieuzorg in Bedrijven. Milieuzorg in Integraal Veranderingsperspectief. Utrecht: Uitgeverij Jan Van Arkel.
30.
Van Loon, J.
(1996) `A Cultural Exploration of Time: Some Implications of Temporality and Mediation', Time & Society5 (1): 61-84.
31.
Vattimo, G.
(1988) The End of Modernity. Nihilism and Hermeneutics in Postmodern Culture, trans. J. R. Snyder. Cambridge: Polity Press.
32.
Welford, R.
and Gouldson, A. (1993) Environmental Management and Business Strategy. London: Pitman Publishing.
33.
World Commission on Environment and Development
(1987) Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
34.
Young, M.
(1988) The Metronomic Society: Natural Rhythms and Human Timetables. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
