JEP » Issues » Waste and Globalised Inequalities » Who Carries the Weight of Digital Technologies? What is its Weight Anyway? (Essay)

Who Carries the Weight of Digital Technologies? What is its Weight Anyway? (Essay)

Autor*innen: Laser, Stefan
https://doi.org/10.20446/JEP-2414-3197-35-2-217
Volume XXXV • Issue 2/3 • 2019
Pages 217-227
Keywords: Review-Essay

Abstract

“Reassembling Rubbish: Worlding Electronic Waste” (2018, MIT Press) is the new book of Canadian geographer Josh Lepawsky. It comes with a plea for a new kind of politics, and it tackles fundamental ethical questions, most importantly: what is the right thing to do with e-waste? The discussion about e-waste in Europe is still in its infancy, especially when we compare it to the numerous books and articles that discuss the information economy via themes such as Big Data or automation. This is a pity, because Lepawsky shows us that we can learn more about these very things through the lens of discarded electronics. After all, a lot is at stake: reducing the overall amount of toxic waste, while also tackling inequalities that are inscribed in the global recycling industries of e-waste.

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