Claiming value in a heterogeneous solid waste configuration in Kampala

• Kampala has a complex set of regulations describing actors, rules and procedures for collection and transportation of waste, and requires waste to be disposed of at the landfill. Yet little of the city’s waste moves through this “formal system”. Building on wider scholarship on urban infrastructure and calls to theorize from southern cities, we examine recycling in Kampala as a heterogeneous infrastructure configuration. Kampala’s lively recycling sector is socially and materi- ally diverse: it is comprised of entrepreneurs, public-private partner- ships and non-governmental organizations, as well as a range of materials with different properties and value. We articulate how actors assert claims, obtain permissions, build and maintain relation- ships as they rework flows away from the landfill. We argue that recognizing socio-material heterogeneity throughout the waste con- figuration enables a clearer analysis of contested processes of claim- ing value from waste. We also demonstrate how these efforts have pressured the state to reconsider the merits of the modern infra- structure ideal as a model for what (good) infrastructure is and ought to be. Various actors assert more heterogeneous alternatives, raising the possibility of alternative modes of infrastructure which might generate better incomes and improve service provision.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi -- Kulturgeografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography -- Human Geography (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Teknikhistoria (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History of Technology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Southern urbanism

heterogeneous infrastructure configurations (HICs)

infrastructure

waste recycling

Strategier för hållbar utveckling

Strategies for sustainable development

Urbana och regionala studier

Urban and Regional Studies

Historiska studier av teknik, vetenskap och miljö

History of Science, Technology and Environment

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)