Waste in Environment and Society

Waste has until now mainly been a technical problem, matched by technical solutions in waste disposal, waste management, and recycling. But waste is a complex phenomenon that can only be fully understood by exploring cultural perceptions and social practices alongside the technical strategies for dealing with waste. A broader view helps us to focus more clearly on the political topicality of waste, for instance in the context of the fast-growing megacities. It is all the more surprising, therefore, that there has not yet been any systematic research into the social, legal, and political discussions about waste in the light of modern developments.

In the CAS project on "Waste in Environment and Society," researchers from eight different LMU faculties are working together to develop a new methodological approach, combining their multidisciplinary expertise into a common research framework that incorporates the praxis, norms, and context of waste. They explore where waste comes from, how it travels, which external factors and ethical taboos influence our understanding of waste, and the normative status of our reactions to discarded and unwanted things. Their analysis aims to open a new understanding both of the theory and practice of waste.

Spokesperson

• Prof. Dr. Christof Mauch
  (Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society und Amerika-Institut, LMU)

Working Group

• Prof. Dr. Claudia Binder
  (Department für Geographie, LMU)
• Prof. Dr. Eveline Dürr
  (Institut für Ethnologie, LMU)
• Prof. Dr. Gisela Grupe
  (Biozentrum Martinsried, LMU)
• Prof. Dr. Bernhard Gill
  (Institut für Soziologie, LMU)
• Prof. Dr. Soraya Heuss-Aßbichler
  (Department für Geo- und Umweltwissenschaften, LMU)
• Prof. Dr. Jens Kersten
  (Juristische Fakultät, LMU)
• Prof. Dr. Hubertus Kohle
  (Department Kunstwissenschaften, LMU)
• Dr. Roman Köster
  (Wirtschafts-, Sozial- und Technikgeschichte, Universität der Bundeswehr München)
• Günther Langer
  (Abfallwirtschaftsbetrieb München (AWM))
• Prof. Dr. Wolfram Mauser
  (Department für Geographie, LMU)
• Kirchenrat Dr. Stephan Schleissing
  (Institut Technik-Theologie-Naturwissenschaften, München)
• Prof. Dr. Helmuth Trischler
  (Münchner Zentrum für Wissenschafts- und Technikgeschichte und Deutsches Museum)
• Prof. Dr. Markus Vogt
  (Katholisch-Theologische Fakultät, LMU)
• PD Dr. Gabriele Weber-Blaschke
  (Wissenschaftszentrum Weihenstephan für Ernährung, Landnutzung und Umwelt, TU München)
• Rachel Shindelar
  (Events Coordinator, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society und Institut für Ethnologie, LMU)

Events

• Panel discussion – "Gibt es eine Zukunft ohne Müll? Perspektiven aus Wissenschaft und Politik"
  (summer semester 2013)
• Lecture series in winter semester 2013/14 – "Was machen wir mit dem Müll?"
• Waste Art – Ein Kunstfest
  (winter semester 2013/14)
• International conference – "Whose Waste, Whose Problem?"
  (winter semester 2014/15)

Publications

• Jens Kersten (Hg.): Inwastement. Abfall in Umwelt und Gesellschaft, Bielefeld 2016.
• Christoph Mauch (Hg.): Out of Sight – Out of Mind: The Politics and Culture of Waste, RCC Perspectives 2016/1.
• Christoph Mauch (Hg.): Is there a Future without Waste? Zero Waste in Theory and Practice, RCC Perspectives 2016/3.

Press

• "Die Deutschen und die Müllentsorgung" – Radiobeitrag auf Bayern2
• Die Kehrseite des Konsums, in: Einsichten 2 (2013), S. 68-71.
• Alles Müll?, in: CAS Aviso 10 (2014), S. 1, 3-5.