GEOGRAPHIES OF RESPONSIBILITY IN SINGAPORE’S E-WASTE MANAGEMENT NETWORKS

Abstract

Singapore is the second largest per capita producer of WEEE in East and Southeast Asia, but there is currently no compulsory, standardized nation-wide procedure for WEEE disposal, collection or recycling. This lacuna in regulation raises questions about the landscape of WEEE management and the distribution of stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities in Singapore. Thus, this thesis shall examine the politics and responsibility discourses of WEEE management in Singapore. A diversity of stakeholder perspectives will be examined through primary interviews and secondary resources, to obtain a more comprehensive view of the situation. WEEE networks are continually evolving and growing, as consumer and industrial electronic usage, waste disposal and management span across various scales and sectors. Thus, I seek to integrate post-structuralist strands of political ecology and moral geography theories in ways that do not predispose particular ontologies of e-waste. Through an examination of the relations of responsibility between political actors, this study seeks to show how WEEE can be effectively managed at different points of the network. Any future nation-wide recycling scheme in Singapore should take into account the existing social networks and practices on the ground, rather than seek to impose a singular standard, technocratic solution.