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Logistics of the Accident: E-Waste Management in Hong Kong

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Logistical Asia

Abstract

This chapter reviews logistical practices, software, and narratives that govern e-waste across formal and informal recycling circuits in Hong Kong. It rethinks the order/disorder binary that typically frames waste. E-waste appears to be an ambiguous denomination and its mobility is not strictly surveilled. Yet rather than failure, this signifies the transformation of power and governance, from what Foucault labels discipline and security into what Massumi terms environmental power. The use of logistical software as well as the interfacing between the formal and informal circuits shows that, paradoxically, e-waste’s transient nature is both constructed and de facto emergent in an uncontrollable fashion. This chapter understands logistics beyond the connotation of a singular, rational strategy and analyzes the normalized disappearance of e-waste as an accident that is produced as such, yet not contained.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong

    Rolien Hoyng

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  1. Rolien Hoyng
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia

    Brett Neilson

  2. Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia

    Ned Rossiter

  3. Director, Calcutta Research Group, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Ranabir Samaddar

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Hoyng, R. (2018). Logistics of the Accident: E-Waste Management in Hong Kong. In: Neilson, B., Rossiter, N., Samaddar, R. (eds) Logistical Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8333-4_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8333-4_10

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-8332-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-8333-4

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

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