Plastic raises material, global and social questions. It’s not just ‘stuff’ but substances inscribed with cultural meanings. Deirdre McKay will explore how our interactions with these materials shape the ways we feel and think about ourselves in the ‘plastisphere’ we now inhabit.

We tend to consider plastics to be cheap and disposable, almost already the garbage they will likely become. Thus our challenge is to think of plastics differently – as potentially valuable stuff. We need not only new and better materials, improved recycling systems, and demand for recycled goods, but to consider the social life of plastics in terms of the broader meanings attached to the materials.

Dr Deirdre McKay is Senior Lecturer in Social Geography and Environmental Politics at Keele University.

свернуть