A WORLD OF WASTE
social entrepreneurs to create a visually stimulating environment to examine issues arising out of research into the global flow of waste. The event was curated by Dr Lucy Norris of UCL and artist Clare Patey, and produced by arts organisation Holy Mountain. The main focus was on anthropological research into second- hand clothing markets and textile recycling – particularly relevant to all of us as consumers and an increasingly important issue for political and environmental agendas. Visitors brought along an unwanted item of
clothing to donate to the ‘charity shop’, on the ground floor of the Bargehouse. On the next two floors of the building, the event showed the global flows of old clothing that can’t be re-sold by a charity shop or that has been placed directly in a textile bank, and the role of commercial recyclers. At several points the event showed research that highlighted the distribution of value along the clothing chain and its current concentration in the hands of sorting businesses and middlemen. The market for re-use in Africa was illustrated through an installation by Oxfam, who have established ‘Frip Ethique’ – a small-scale social enterprise in Senegal supporting local used-clothing sellers. This shows the potential for retaining the value of used clothing as a developmental tool throughout a distribution network, rather than simply selling it as a commodity to raise funds. The exhibition continued with a room devoted
to recycling technologies used in the UK, such as producing wipers from old cotton clothing and flocking from mixed fibres, and then moved on to show the shoddy recycling industry in India, the focus of Lucy Norris’ ethnographic research that highlights the poor labour conditions, low wages, and resulting low-quality products. Throughout, research was illustrated by visual
projects including Meghna Gupta’s debut film Unravel about the Indian recycling industry and photographs by Tim Mitchell – both projects partially funded by British Academy Small Research Grants with support from the ESRC- funded academic research. And fashion designer and social enterprise leader Lizzie Harrison of
12 SOCIETY NOW SPRING 2012
A world of waste S
TAGED ON 20-22 JANUARY at the Bargehouse on London’s Southbank, Everything Must Go brought together social scientists, artists, designers and
The event explained global waste management and what happens to the clothing and textiles we donate or recycle
What happens to our waste? Is it recycled, burned or transported to other countries? Everything Must Go – a public event marking the culmination of the ESRC-funded Waste of the World project – showed what happens to the things we throw away
Remade in Leeds hosted workshops on upcycling old clothing and rug-making from scraps. The Waste of the World event featured a programme of talks, ‘Talking Rubbish’, where academic researchers, designers, film-makers, business entrepreneurs and third-sector leaders discussed the issues raised by global waste management and the implications for the way in which we think about our old clothing, as well as wider issues around waste and recycling. The exhibition finished with a display on ship- breaking in Chittagong and Bootle, a research strand in the project led by Nicky Gregson and Mike Crang, including a stunning time-release film by Tim Mitchell of the breaking up of a ship. The research challenges the comfortable notion that our waste can be contained, cleaned and endlessly recycled, showing it as a filthy, powerful and potentially dangerous flow of materials through the world. Everything Must Go encouraged the public to consider their own relationship to materials, objects and waste and showed how social science research increases understanding of global issues. n
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For more information on the Waste of the World project and the Everything Must Go event see
www.thewasteoftheworld.org ESRC grant number RES 060-23-0007
© Tim Mitchell
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