Whilst we dream of a zero-waste circular economy, waste—which eludes such managerial thinking—haunts us in various ways and piles up. It accumulates on land, in water and in the air, in human and non-human bodies. By drawing attention to this ghostly nature of waste, this thesis traces the origins and continuation of the ecological catastrophe back to colonial capitalism, in which waste plays a crucial yet under-analysed role. In this thesis, I argue that the ecological catastrophe demands attention to what waste produces (prompting reflection on the economy), what waste brings forth (prompting reflection on ecology), and how this together demands attention to what economy and ecology share – the ‘eco’, oikos (house) – and to production in a broader sense. I propose an embodied critical philosophy that can help us understand the uncanny, polluted, exhausted and exhausting situation in which we find ourselves, and which simultaneously raises questions about what we (also) are for others: food. What does waste tell us about the unfolding ecological catastrophe, from which ultimately nothing more can be squeezed, not even recyclable waste?
Lisa Doeland is a philosopher. She is an eco-thinker with an eye for the uncanny. To grasp and visualise the ecological catastrophe, she draws on uncanny modes of thought, such as deconstruction, psychoanalysis and critical theory. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at VU University Amsterdam, where she works on the NWO project “The Existential Dimensions of Planetary Health.” She regularly contributes essays to publications including De Groene Amsterdammer, Wijsgerig Perspectief and the Nederlandse Boekengids. Her book Apocalypsofie. On recycling, green growth and other dangerous fantasies (2023) has been published. Together with philosophers Naomi Jacobs and Elize de Mul, she co-authored Onszelf voorbij. Looking at what we’d rather not see (2018).