According to Eurostat, the municipal waste generated in 2022 in Romania was around 301 kg/capita. Although this volume was lower than the EU average, the recycling rate of this waste was just 12.1%, the lowest in the European Union. Inadequate waste management poses a significant challenge to sustainability, as it frequently results in the inefficient use of resources, contributes to environmental degradation and pollution, particularly concerning non-biodegradable materials such as plastics. The production of waste is directly linked with human activity. As Hawkins wrote in his book on the ethics of waste, “the destruction of paradise occurred not when Adam took a bite of the apple but when he dropped the core on the ground”. In the pro-environmentalist discourse, human action is the main factor for environmental changes and the question of agency and responsibility is essential to understanding waste practices. 

Understanding and addressing the relationship between human action and waste management is essential for effective waste reduction strategies. From an anthropological perspective, waste reflects and shapes human habits and social behaviors. The anthropology of waste is an emerging field of research. For decades, anthropologists have considered the question of what is waste to be a complex issue, as it reveals cultural values and practices surrounding consumption, environmental protection and affectivity. It was discussed under concepts such as rubble (Gordillo 2014), debris (Stoler 2013; Ssorin-Chaikov 2016), marginalia (Gandy 2013), ugliness (Novoa forthcoming), ruination and pollution (Olsen and Pétursdóttir 2014), the subaltern (Buchli and Lucas 2001), the unwanted (Sosna and Brunclíková 2017), the opposite to civilisation (Winegar 2016), what has to be concealed and hidden (Åkesson 2006), or negligence and human failure (Lynch 1990).

This article focuses on the interactions between individuals and waste by exploring what waste represents for people and how it is perceived in specific situations. The central question of this research is “what factors influence individuals to behave ethically or unethically towards waste?”. Hawkins sees the ethics of waste as a process of reflexivity by which we become aware of how we relate with waste and how we perceive waste, looking at the role waste takes “in our relations with our body and the world”, a role that is intimately linked with our waste habits. I will follow how people classify waste from two different perspectives – the pro-environmental/ethical one and the unethical. I look at how various factors might influence these two stances, including people’s education level, the meaning they attach to waste, their understanding of waste management processes and responsibility and their impact on the environment. I also consider an experiential dimension, looking at different habits and sensations that emerge from people’s interactions with waste.

In June 2022, during my Master’s degree in Anthropology at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies in Romania I conducted field research for a course in Language, Culture and Social Interaction, focusing on the messages printed on the garbage bins of Bucharest’s districts 3 and 4. My aim was to understand what meaning these messages offer to the public and the extent to which they create an individual or collective sense of civic responsibility. I continued the research between February and April 2024 going beyond my initial focus and looking at the questions outlined above. The data collected for this article is drawn from observations, unstructured and semi-structured interviews with twelve residents from districts 3 and 4, three waste collectors and three street cleaners. The residents I discussed with are majoritarily middle class, with academic degrees, of different ages, women and men, from 12 years old to 70 years old, but also of low socio-economic conditions – people without degrees and/or part of the Roma minority. I also followed conversations on Facebook groups created by the local communities of districts 3 and 4 and shared a questionnaire to explore how people handle and understand waste, for which I received six responses. Another method used was to conduct informal interviews with residents encountered randomly around the two districts, in spots marked by a higher level of littering.

What constitutes waste can be very subjective, as Drackner rightly noted. Our relationship with waste is influenced by various factors, including the value we attribute to the concepts of waste and garbage. Individuals resonate with these notions differently. My respondents associated garbage with dirt and disgust, viewing it as a symbol of negligence and illness, and a cause of diseases and pollution. Garbage is seen as having no use and carries a pejorative connotation, whereas waste is perceived differently, conveying a sense of value and usefulness. One of the street waste pickers I spoke with shared an experience that illustrates this attitude. She recounted, “Most of the time, I notice people treating garbage with repulsion. Once, I asked someone to help me lift a container because it was too heavy, but he said, ‘I won’t touch your garbage, it’s dirty.’ “

Garbage is first experienced through physical interaction, primarily via smell and touch. In the conversations I had, the disturbing smell of garbage was recognized as one of its primary characteristics. For some residents, it was the main factor triggering disgust and repulsion. The act of taking out the garbage through the waste chutes in apartment buildings has also been cited as a source of disgust by some respondents. Apartment blocks built during the communist regime were equipped with garbage chutes, typically located on every floor in small, dark rooms. These chutes are often sources of unpleasant smells and cockroaches, especially if not well cleaned and disinfected. According to European directives, by 2025 all garbage chutes in Romania will have to be taken out of use and replaced with outdoor designated areas for separate collection, with the aim of increasing recycling rates and improving public health.

Waste not only creates a sense of disgust but also raises aesthetic concerns. Garbage can have a strong negative visual impact. I remember being in Paris in 2016 during a garbage collectors’ strike. The sight was daunting—garbage bags were everywhere on the streets, in some areas even blocking the sidewalks, creating a feeling of deep discomfort. Some respondents, who take out the garbage every day or every other day, mentioned they prefer this frequency to avoid bad smells, clutter, and disorder. These aesthetic concerns can significantly influence the overall look and feel of an environment. The days that some of my older respondents recall, when garbage was taken out in a bucket and was picked-up in horse-drawn carts are gone. New waste disposal processes and tools now aim to improve the aesthetics of waste disposal. These range from perfumed and colorful plastic bags, used by some respondents, to smart bins equipped with motion or touch sensors. These innovations minimize contact between waste and its owner while also creating a more pleasant user experience.

The issue of waste extends beyond environmental concerns and intersects with social dynamics, often contributing to widening inequalities within communities and being associated with misery. I have often seen poor people or those living on the streets scavenging in waste containers for food or recyclables, which they can sell for a small amount. They often leave a mess around the scavenged spot and are stigmatized for it. “I would force people to stop throwing plastic bottles or good stuff directly in the bin. They could throw them on the street, that would make them disappear instantly. Because when I walk by a garbage bag and I see there might be something worthwhile inside, I will tear it apart to take that thing. And then it will spread all over the place,” a homeless person declared in a Bucharest Housing Stories short documentary.

Moreover, passersby often judge the residents of a neighborhood or area based on the cleanliness of its streets. I have read several Facebook comments in the District 3 group where people made assumptions about the area’s qualities based on its cleanliness: “You can tell what kind of people live in the area when you see so much garbage everywhere.” Dropping rubbish can be seen as “evidence of an undisciplined self, unable to regulate its actions in the interest of social and environmental order, and lacking a sense of public responsibility” . I frequently heard people link the amount of trash in an area to the presence of the Roma community or to poorly educated individuals. In all my conversations, the issue of education surfaced, with ‘a person with education’ being understood by my respondents as someone who demonstrates good manners and common sense in waste management. 

“I see them littering when they have a bin a few metres away. (…) It all depends on the type of person you are, what education you have. Some are sensible, yes, they don’t litter, they don’t throw their garbage anywhere, they leave a clean space in front of their houses…” (street cleaner)

Garbage seems covered by a veil of invisibility. We keep it in our homes for a few days, then dispose of it, and it disappears, shifting the responsibility for our waste to public services in exchange for a small monthly fee. The waste cycle is invisible to us but integral to other people’s livelihoods. Indeed, for some, once an item becomes ”trash” it falls solely under the responsibility of the waste collectors. 

This brings me to the question of who takes responsibility for waste management. In most conversations I followed on Facebook, and in several meetings between public authorities and civil society on waste management that I witnessed, I noticed that the topic often leads to political debates and polarization, with blame frequently shifting from one side to the other. Public authorities are blamed for not providing the necessary infrastructure or enforcing the law properly, by applying sanctions to those who manage waste improperly. Meanwhile, citizens are blamed for their lack of education and awareness. Tensions emerge between individuals and between public authorities and citizens, bringing the question of state responsibilities versus individual duties to the forefront. Below are a few illustrative snippets from Facebook conversations on citizen groups:

“Garbage is representative of the mayor as well as of the current government!”

”Waste is burnt and the smell is awful, while local police and environmental authorities are not doing anything!”

”The local town hall is not doing anything to sanction the ones who litter illegally”

The role of waste cleaners, particularly street cleaners, does not necessarily foster civic responsibility. “We are not allowed to tell people anything if we see them littering on the street. We just have to clean up after them,” one woman told me. When they do react to littering, street cleaners told me they often receive negative comments such as, “What are you paid for, then?” or “Can’t you pick it up?”. This can be seen as expressing a form of entitlement to litter, by expecting others to clean up after them and refusing to take personal responsibility for public spaces. While people may feel responsible for their own households, outside their homes, they share that responsibility with many others, which can make an individual’s direct responsibility for the cleanliness of public spaces seem minimal or insignificant. Individuals may thus end up feeling “de/responsibilized” for their actions. It is often this indifference towards waste that results in a state of neglect and abandonment.

Over time, and for the purposes of this research, I tried to engage with people while they were littering. In most cases, my remarks were met with irritation, and questions like “Why did you throw this on the pavement?” prompted responses such as “What do you know?!”, “Mind your own business,” or were met with complete indifference. One respondent shared that when he called attention to people who litter, he usually received an embarrassed look towards the ground. He mentioned that he prefers to address only young people as a way to educate and model positive behavior for the future. Some respondents also said they sometimes choose to pick up litter themselves to show the person who discarded it that picking up garbage is not shameful, hoping to foster a sense of civic responsibility. “I can feel the discomfort of those who see me doing this, while others remain completely indifferent,” a respondent noted.

I had brief conversations with individuals who discarded plastic packages and cigarette butts on the pavement, trying to understand their reasons for littering. They responded that the area was already dirty, and their additional littering would not make much of a difference. The way we perceive a place is often shaped by how others have affected that environment. For instance, one person who discarded a cigarette butt did not even consider it to be garbage. This view was supported by a conversation with one of the street cleaners, who noted, “People do not consider certain items, like plastic or cigarette butts, as waste.” When exposed to a dirty environment for an extended period, we may come to view it as normal and develop unhealthy habits around it. When asked if they were aware of the waste cycle or the effects of improper waste management on the environment, they did not give a clear answer. Individuals might not feel directly impacted by the consequences of their actions because they do not perceive any immediate harm resulting from those actions. 

On the contrary, respondents who claimed to be mindful about waste, associate environmental protection with recycling processes, avoiding food waste, and conserving finite resources, and while also being aware of the waste cycle. For them, recycling represents an orderly lifestyle, which becomes an action that is embodied through repetition and reflects a habit they developed through everyday practices of separating waste. This perspective includes waste collectors I spoke with, who reported that working in the sector has changed their behavior toward waste: “I’m much more careful with what I do with my garbage since I started doing this job. I feel more responsible for it because in the end it’s still people like us who have to bear the brunt.” Waste disposal carries a sense of morality, in contrast to simply discarding garbage.

This aligns with observations made by Schlehe et al., who suggest that experiences with litter collection can raise awareness of waste issues. According to Cox, we need to create our own experiences with waste rather than delegating it, as “dealing with our own dirt brings us face to face with our materiality. It is a very direct connection to the natural world and our place within it.”.

Our relationship with waste can be very subjective. It is overly simplistic to categorize this relationship based on two types of behavior: those who value waste and those who do not, those who are environmentally responsible and those who are not, or those who have good waste education and those who do not. I have illustrated that the relationship one develops with waste depends on several factors. The embodied and sensual experiences that waste provides can influence our reactions to it. The concepts that define it—whether it is considered waste or garbage—can play a role in how we interact with it. The morality of waste is linked to external factors as much as it is to internal aspects dependent on us.

Waste needs a holistic approach, encompassing not only environmental considerations or public services but also the morality of behaviors intertwined with the materiality of substances. Weak pro-environmental behaviors are often due to a lack of access to information about proper waste management or adherence to different cultural and social norms. To reform individual behaviors, we need to recreate our connection with nature, rethink our levels of responsibility towards the environment, and reshape our habits. Understanding how people perceive waste and how they interact with spaces characterized by waste is crucial for improving waste management systems.

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