Recycling efforts in Senegal still leave most plastic waste scattered across the landscape

Evidence

That the world is increasingly covered with an endless flood of waste is all too clear. The images and videos we discuss in this book are almost entirely North American and are thus somewhat isolated from the true global damage of a luxury that requires a steady stream of objects only ending at complete exhaustion. But the last decade or so has seen countless examples of popular journalism or contemporary art depicting the impact of consumer waste on countless regions across the globe. One only needs to look at an Edward Burtynsky print, or open the New York Times, or even watch a HopeScope video to see a depiction of waste and its damaging effect on the planet. Some of this damage is even done in the name of being “socially responsible.” Senegal, a hub for plastic recycling, is covered in waste that never arrives at recycling centers. “Despite all of the efforts to recycle, much of Senegal’s waste never makes it to landfills, instead littering the landscape,” the Times reports. “Knockoff Adidas sandals and containers that once held a local version of Nutella block drains. Thin plastic bags that once contained drinking water meander back and forth in the Senegalese surf, like jellyfish. Plastic shopping bags burn in residential neighborhoods, sending clouds of chemical-smelling smoke into the hazy air.” — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 266

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s analysis of HopeScope/influencers as the Corpocene — here the book itself names HopeScope as emblematic of waste depiction.