THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE THROWAWAY SOCIETY: THE CONTEXT OF ELECTRONICS WASTE MERCHANDISE IN LAGOS, NIGERIA

Abstract

The throwaway society thesis had proposed that we now live in a throwaway society, characterized by premature and increasing discard of used goods, including e-wastes, even before the entry of such goods into their technical manufacture end-of-life. This research therefore examined the throwaway society assertion is framed and reframed within the Lagos e-waste merchandise by traders and consumers using a purely qualitative research methodology and instruments such as interviews and observation. Findings revealed that we now live instead in a reuse-culture-society, in which reuse and the commercialization of reuse meanings defined e-waste objects and the social relations of e-waste merchandise in Lagos, Nigeria. The article argues that value inscription contextually reconstructs the existence of a possible throwaway material and forges innovative uses for such waste electronics. The paper concluded that, by way of recycling, cannibalizing and commoditizing objects in the Lagos market and through a series of social actions, market relations and value creation, otherwise e-wastes are reconstructed commodities having social life and cultural biographies which are variously determined by the value assigned to a material in market operations. With these meanings, it becomes difficult to speak of an existing throwaway society. The article recommends that, beyond their physical material attributes, the interpretations and meanings of objects must begin matter in current and future understandings of the throwaway Society and the object-relations underlying this acclaimed society.