Incineration, Urbanization, and Municipal Solid Waste in the World-System

Bibliographic Data

ID12433495
AuthorsAlbert S Fu (0000-0002-6676-3882, Kutztown University, corresponding author), Utku Balaban (0000-0003-3013-8935)
Year2024
Volume30
Issue1
Pages276-301
Publication date2024-04-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of World-Systems Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1076-156X • E-ISSN: 1076-156X
PublisherUniversity Library System, University of Pittsburgh (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.5195/jwsr.2024.1183
OpenAlexW4394875015
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited46

Incineration, or waste-to-energy, is a widespread means of greenwashing municipal solid waste collection worldwide. This paper looks at incineration and the trade of bottom ash to discuss how urbanization in one country pressures urban expansion elsewhere in the modern world-system. Incineration is a coping mechanism for excess waste produced by cities under capitalism. It generates energy, reduces the volume of waste, and creates ash that can be used in cement production. However, it is far from sustainable, as it facilitates expansion-oriented growth. Using UN Comtrade data, we find that incineration is a material and metabolic process that promotes global urbanization in the following ways: 1.) Corporations producing and selling incineration are part of a transnational growth machine that fuels the treadmill of production. 2.) North-North, North-South, and South-South relationships encourage incineration as a means of ecological modernization. 3.) These relationships have both hierarchical and polycentric dimensions—allowing us to create a typology for understanding such processes within the modern world-system

Business · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental planning · Incineration · Municipal solid waste · Urban waste · Urbanization · Waste management · Engineering · Environmental Science · Global Energy and Sustainability Research

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