Envisioning waste utopias to create dignified waste work
本文以“乌托邦作为方法”构想公平可持续的废物管理系统，强调纳入以工人为中心和反种姓政治，以改善印度拾荒者和环卫工人的工作条件与尊严。
This paper explores ‘utopia as method’ to envision solid waste and sewage management systems which are equitable and sustainable. Global solid waste management is largely sustained by millions of waste pickers who collect, sort and manage waste. Sanitation workers play a vital role in maintaining sewage systems. These workers are exposed to dangerous, toxic workspaces, and they often belong to marginalised socio-economic groups. Labour market segregation on the basis of gender, racialisation and caste is particularly visible in the case of waste-related occupations as workers face stigmatisation. In South Asia, Dalits (lowest caste groups) are significantly overrepresented as sanitation workers and waste pickers. Thus, this conceptual paper draws upon studies from India, to explore and imagine possibilities of anti-caste futures within visions of sustainable waste management. The paper highlights the need to incorporate worker-centric approaches and anti-caste politics to build ecologically sustainable and socio-economically equitable waste infrastructures.