Investigating waste in the ambit of environmental sociology in Bhubaneswar, India

ABSTRACT

Rapid urbanization brings along with it an array of challenges including housing issues, traffic congestion, proliferation of slums, water and sanitation issues, poor air quality, increased crimes, unemployment and problems of waste management. Water and air pollution due to improper disposal of solid waste poses significant threat to urban health and thereby resulting in poor living conditions. Solid waste has been studied extensively by natural scientists, ecologists, and conservation scientists. However, the study makes an attempt to analyze the sociological aspects of solid waste in urban space. With the help of the theoretical lens of political-ecology and actor-network theories, the current study uncovers the linkages, conflicts, and power relations between political, and social components of the solid waste management issues in the Indian city of Bhubaneswar. Resorting to mixed method and obtaining relevant date through survey, semi-structured interview schedule, and ethnography, the study locates power relations between caste, class, and gender groups, resulting in ‘urban metabolism.’ Waste has also become hybrid due to heterogeneity, relationalities, multiplicities, and framing. The study suggests that recognizing and empowering underrepresented actors can actively shape and meaningfully reorient waste discourse in Bhubaneswar.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban space
• waste
• solid waste
• environmental sociology
• political ecology
• actor-network theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Swatiprava Rath

Swatiprava Rath is a researcher with a Ph.D. from National Institute of Science Education and Research. She does research in the field of Environmental sociology and Sociology of Gender. She has done her Masters in Sociology and M. Phil in Sociology in Utkal University, Odisha, India. She can be contacted through [email protected].

Pranay Kumar Swain

Pranay Kumar Swain is an Associate Professor from NISER. His specializations are in Social Development, Contemporary Social Issues, and Social Transformation. He has done research in Science-Society Interface, Public Policy and Management, Social Entrepreneurship, and Contemporary Social Issues (focusing on Health, Education, and Livelihood). He has a Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur and a Masters’s from the University of Hyderabad. He can be contacted at [email protected].