Toxic Legacies / Filtering the Truth
The concept of recycling has gained immense popularity as a sustainable approach to waste pollution and is embraced as a potential solution to our escalating environmental crisis. However, not all recycling practices – especially when it comes to plastic – are necessarily environmentally friendly. In many cases, claims to recyclability are merely greenwashing, a marketing strategy used by companies to position themselves as environ- mentally conscious without implementing actual changes in their production practices. My master project aims to investigate the greenwashing behind recycling and how the concept of recycling can tend to justify the production of waste in a consumer-based system.
The concept of recycling has gained immense popularity as a sustainable approach to waste pollution and is embraced as a potential solution to our escalating environmental crisis. However, not all recycling practices – especially when it comes to plastic – are necessarily environmentally friendly. In many cases, claims to recyclability are merely greenwashing, a marketing strategy used by companies to position themselves as environ- mentally conscious without implementing actual changes in their production practices.
My master project aims to investigate the greenwashing behind recycling and how the concept of recycling can tend to justify the production of waste in a consumer-based system.
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Journals and Reports:
ACS Publications (2020) Degradation Rates
of Plastics in the Environment, Pages 3495,
3499-3500, 3503. doi: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b06635
de Granda-Orive, J.I., Solano-Reina, S., de Granda-Beltrán,
C. and Jiménez-Ruiz, C.A. (2020)
Talking about Cigarette Filters. Open Respiratory
Archives, 2(3), pp.203-204.
Adamkiewicz, J., Kochanska, E., Adamkiewicz,
I. And Łukasik R. M. (2022) Greenwashing and
sustainable fashion industry, Current Opinion
in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, Volume 38
(100710), doi: 10.1016/j.cogsc.2022.100710
Albertsson, A.C. and Hakkarainen, M. (2017) Designed
to degrade. Science, 358(6365), pp.872-
873.
Assres, J. and Abate, B. (2018) Reprocessing
Waste Cigarette Butts into Usable Materials. International
Journal on Textile Engineering and
Processes, 4(3).
Atkinson, J. (2003) Thumbing Their Noses at
“The Man”: An Analysis of Resistance Narratives
About Multinational Corporations, Popular
Communication, 1:3, 163-180, doi: 10.1207/
S15405710PC0103_2
Belzagui, Francisco & Valentina, Buscio & Gutiérrez-Bouzán,
Carmen & Vilaseca, Mercedes.
(2020). Cigarette Butts as a Microfiber Source
with a Microplastic Level of Concern. Science
of The Total Environment. 762. 144165. doi:
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144165.
Changing Markets Foundation (2022) Report: License
to Greenwash: How certification schemes
and voluntary initiatives are fuelling fossil fashion,
available at: https://changingmarkets.org/
portfolio/fossil-fashion/ (accessed: December
19 2022)
Changing Markets Foundation (2021) Report:
Fossil Fashion: The hidden reliance of fast fashion
on fossil fuels. Available at: https://changingmarkets.org/portfolio/fossil-fashion/
(accessed:
December 18 2022)
Dasu, K., Xia, X., Siriwardena, D., Klupinski, T.P.
and Seay, B. (2022) Concentration profiles of perand
polyfluoroalkyl substances in major sources
to the environment. Journal of Environmental
Management, 301, p.113879.
Garcia, J. M. And Robertson M. L. (2017) The future
of plastics recycling, Science 358 (6365),
870-872, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaq0324
Hart, R., 2021. Shifting the Burden of Plastic
Bags: A Proposal for a Federal Extended Producer
Responsibility Law. LSU J. Energy L. & Resources,
9, p.531;
Biomimicry Institute (2020) Report: The Nature of
Fashion: Moving towards a regenerative system,
available at: https://biomimicry.org/thenatureoffashion/
(accessed December 18 2022)
Harold, C. (2004) Pranking rhetoric: “culture
jamming” as media activism, Critical Studies
in Media Communication, 21:3, 189-211, doi:
10.1080/0739318042000212693
Bonanomi G, Incerti G, Cesarano G, Gaglione
SA, Lanzotti V. Cigarette butt decomposition
and associated chemical changes assessed
by 13C CPMAS NMR. PLoS One. 2015
Jan 27;10(1):e0117393. doi: 10.1371/journal.
pone.0117393.
de Fenzo, A., Giordano, M. and Sansone, L. (2020)
A clean process for obtaining high-quality cellulose
acetate from cigarette butts. Materials,
13(21), p.4710, doi:10.3390/ma13214710
Harris, B. (2011) The intractable cigarette ‘filter
problem’. Tobacco control, 20(Suppl 1),
pp.i10-i16. doi: 10.1136/tc.2010.040113
Hickel, J. (2021) What does degrowth mean? A
few points of clarification, Globalizations, 18:7,
1105-1111, doi: 10.1080/14747731.2020.1812222
Horvat, P. and Kržan, A. (2012) Certification of bioplastics.
Plastice, Innovative value chain development
for sustainable plastici in Central Europe.
192