The module starts out with the Introduction for Students. This is a rich-text section that gives a description of the plastic waste situation and challenges. It includes themes such as outdated conceptions of waste management; the multiple challenges of plastic pollution; valuing waste as a resource; and opportunities for changing plastic waste practices.The section ends with a few guiding questions for the students to synthesize their understanding of the topic.
The second section is a Prezi presentation on Understanding Plastic Waste in Sri Lanka. This is an interactive presentation that walks students through the context of waste management and resulting plastic pollution. The presentation is full of visuals that highlight culture, environment, and social considerations.
The presentation is in two components:
- How does increasing plastic affect the island nation?
- Waste management
- Waste management disposal sites
- Collecting and sorting of wastes
- Plastic production and management
- Recycling
- Everyday consumption patterns
- Social impact and environmental justice
- Environmental impact
- Marine debris
- Rethinking Plastics
- Upcycling
- Alternatives to plastic
- Social action
- Circular economy
- Zero waste
Each of these subtopics addresses a key concept that pertains to both waste at the local level in Sri Lanka, as well as global challenges that are more familiar to your students. For instance, Sri Lanka ‘alternatives to plastic’ include local materials such as areca leaf, coconut shells, and banana leaf. What kind of alternatives do you see in your local environment? In the ‘upcycling’ section, the example of ecobricks is used to illustrate ways people in Sri Lanka have found to upcycle materials. What kind of upcycling applications are used in your own local context? Are these long-term or short term solutions for plastic waste? In the ‘everyday consumption patterns’ section, the examples show challenges with single-use at the grocery store, as well as challenges due to local food habits (in the Sri Lankan case, curry lunches). How do everyday consumption choices in your area affect the accumulation of single-use plastic waste? These types of reflective questions can be posed for each of the 14 subtopics. The photos in the slides illustrate the issues in the Sri Lankan context. Most were taken by Conlon during her dissertation research in Sri Lanka.
Possible additional questions for discussion with the presentation include:
1. What does it mean to ‘manage’ plastic waste?
2. Explain downstream and upstream management solutions?
3. What does waste as an externality mean?
4. How does the issue of waste overlap with other sectors?
5. How does the local response fit within the global waste narratives?
6. What are plastics alternatives and upcycling approaches that have worked outside of Sri Lankan that might work in-country?
The third section uses three videos to highlight Plastic waste challenges and solutions. These videos illustrate how waste issues play out on the ground in Sri Lanka. Each video is accompanied by a brief description, as well as follow-up questions. The first video is by a Sri Lankan social advocacy group, WALK (Waste Action Lanka). WALK’s video highlights the challenges of plastic waste use at the supermarket. The video rings true for both the Sri Lankan and global contexts (the Colombo supermarket looks similar to an American grocery store). The second video is a news video clip that shows waste challenges in Sri Lanka just after a major landfill collapse in 2017. We see the impact of the landslide on families living adjacent to the dump site; on waste collectors; and on the overall waste collection system. The third video focuses on several case studies of communities in the interior of Sri Lanka that have developed community-appropriate solutions to plastic waste. This highlights that when waste is acknowledged as a problem, solutions can emerge.
The module concludes with Further Resources, which is an extensive list of references on plastic pollution and waste, which the students can use if they are delving deeper into these issues for a research paper, literature reviews, class presentations, or other assignments. For instance, the GAIA (2020) Zero Waste Masterplan highlights how zero waste can be enacted in cities and communities around the globe. Students could apply this to their local setting, and/or report about how zero waste is being enacted in several cases around the globe. Another example, Clapp (2002), expounds on the linear waste management practice of ‘distancing’ and why this is a problem. Students could read this piece and talk about distancing in their local context. To delve into some of the global perspectives on plastic waste issues, students could review the UN (2016) Goal 12: Sustainable Consumption and Production and also UNEP (2018) Single-Use Plastic, and discuss how these goals are or are not being actualized at the local and global levels.
There is no time to waste in addressing waste! Thanks for your interest in this topic. The course developer can also be reached for further questions and inquiries: kconlon1@alumni.nd.edu
