The Performance of “Civilized” Ecology
New York’s dysfunctional recycling system is a performance of “civilized” ecology that masks the actual, savage logic of endless consumption and waste. Mamdani’s analysis of how customs are created and enforced by the state is key here. The complex, often contradictory rules of recycling place the burden of ecological management on the individual “native” resident, creating a theater of environmental action while the real polluters–corporations and the logistics of global capital–go unchecked. This is a custom designed to produce guilt and compliance, not systemic change. A Marxist critique sees this as the externalization of waste management costs onto the public. A feminist perspective notes the unpaid labor, often performed by women, of sorting and cleaning. The solution is not better recycling but a fight for extended producer responsibility laws and a shift towards a zero-waste, de-growth model that attacks the root of overproduction, moving beyond the colonial performance of sustainability.
