What a Wonderful Waste

The paper questions the role of waste in the production and consumption of the
Anthropocene and presents the results of two case studies as inspiration for
new ways of living, producing, and consuming in the Anthropocene. The two
cases have different focuses: the first is the organic farm project
Rabarbergaarden in Northern Zealand, Denmark, which is dedicated to a
circular economy, giving more back to nature and the local community than it
takes, harvests, and withdraws. The second case is Restaurant Nolla in Helsinki,
Finland, which consistently works towards lowering the by-products of food
production and consumption, eliminating refuse to the extent possible, and
considering itself a zero-waste restaurant. In both cases, debris and waste have
been redefined through efforts towards reduction, reuse, upcycling, or recycling.
In this sense, the cases are exemplary and demonstrate with different means
that waste is not just a thing, it is also a thought; or rather it defies the traditional dichotomy between material and social. Waste becomes through a complex interplay between social practices, material objects, and discourses, and it is handled accordingly.