Doctoral Dissertation Research: Electronic Waste Recycling in South Africa: Transition Management in Practice?

电子产品由各种部件组成，包括贵重金属和危险材料。全球每年产生数千万吨电子垃圾，但只有一小部分电子垃圾被回收利用。尽管随着全球电子产品使用量的增长，电子垃圾的数量继续呈指数级增长，但回收成本阻碍了美国和欧洲等发达国家的广泛回收。因此，全球出现了一个电子垃圾产业，垃圾被出口到世界上一些地区，如中国、印度和一些非洲国家，在那里发生了非法倾倒和非正式回收。许多国家的回收做法涉及去除有价值的金属，但它们采用的做法对人和生态系统有害。南非正在寻求一种相对未被探索的电子垃圾处理方法：可持续回收。南非的电子垃圾目标进展最快的是约翰内斯堡的一个试点项目，该项目将向消费者收取回收费，这笔费用将用于支持废物处理企业。这一博士论文研究项目将把转型管理理论与政治生态视角相结合，以考察在该行业的创建中发挥作用的权力关系，以及该项目扩展到其他背景的潜力。博士生将使用一系列方法，包括文件分析；与利益相关者的深入访谈，如电子垃圾处理者、政策制定者、非政府组织官员和消费者；对正式和非正式回收设施的实地观察；以及参与会议规划和战略制定的观察。该项目的动机是电子垃圾挑战的严重性、出口问题上的相对僵局以及南非打造电子垃圾管理创新途径的潜力。项目成果可帮助政策制定者了解回收系统的环境和生态后果，以及为促进社会技术体制成功过渡而必须受到影响的更广泛的因素。此外，记录影响电子垃圾战略制定和项目实施的权力关系，有助于纠正结构性不平等，并赋予可能缺席决策过程的社区居民和消费者等利益相关者权力。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立和强大的独立研究事业。

Electronic goods are made of diverse components, including valuable metals and hazardous materials. Tens of millions of tons of electronic waste (e-waste) is produced annually across the globe, but only a small proportion of this e-waste is recycled. While the amount of e-waste continues to rise exponentially as use of electronics grows internationally, recycling costs prohibit widespread recycling in the developed nations of the world, such as the U.S. and Europe. As a result, a global e-waste industry has arisen in which waste is exported into parts of the world like China, India, and some African countries, where illegal dumping and informal recycling occur. Recycling practices in many countries involve the removal of valuable metals, but they employ practices harmful to people and ecosystems. South Africa is pursuing a relatively unexplored approach to e-waste: sustainable recycling. South Africa's e-waste goals are being most progressively advanced through a pilot program in Johannesburg that will charge recycling fees to consumers, with the fee being used to support waste processing enterprises. This doctoral dissertation research project will integrate transition management theory with political ecological perspectives in order to examine the power relations at play in the creation of this industry as well as the potential for this project to be scaled out to other contexts. The doctoral student will use a range of methods, including document analysis; in-depth interviews with stakeholders, such as e-waste processors, policy makers, non-governmental organization officials, and consumers; field observations of formal and informal recycling facilities; and participant observation in planning and strategizing meetings.This project is motivated by the magnitude of the e-waste challenge, the relative impasse over the question of exportation, and the potential for South Africa to forge an innovative pathway for e-waste management. Project results can help inform policy makers about the environmental and ecological consequences of the recycling system as well as the factors in the broader landscape that must be influenced in order to facilitate a successful sociotechnical regime transition. Moreover, documenting the power relations shaping e-waste strategy development and project implementation can help remedy structural inequalities and empower stakeholders like community residents and consumers who may be absent from the decision-making process. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Award, this award will provide support to enable a promising student to establish and strong independent research career.