The Challenges of Temporality to Depollution & Remediation

Résumé 0

Complete depollution and effective remediation are impossible for many wastes. Long-enduring and even permanent wastes such as nuclear waste, ocean plastics, orbital debris, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), among others, present unique problems for remediation because of their temporality. While they may be spatially moved and “cleaned up,” the hazardous or toxic substance themselves will continue to endure in time, which means remediation becomes an exercise in shifting materials in space rather than their elimination. This strategy means that spills, leaks, and future care are pressing problems that can reintroduce the substance to new environments and bodies. Thus, the main methods to address toxicity in the environment—depollution and remediation—are stopgaps at best. While different disciplines have been aware of these problems for years, an interdisciplinary synthesis is lacking. We offer one here by considering a range of research, case studies, and theories around the temporality of waste drawing from archaeology, biology, environmental science, geography, geology, history, science and technology studies (STS), and sociology. We first outline key concepts that describe waste’s long-term temporality: deep-time, the Anthropocene, and slow violence. Then, we consider case studies of nuclear, plastic, and orbital wastes to illustrate these concepts. We conclude with an overview of waste management strategies designed to extend for centuries, including concepts of future generations and kinship. Our goal is to provide an interdisciplinary vocabulary and framework so researchers and waste managers can solve problems that track across challenges and types of waste.