Paper short abstract:

This paper offers insights into the timid demonisation of plastic in Romania, pointing out that contributors to this process, even through privately unconvinced of this negative portrayal, consider it a vital strategy for raising awareness in a country with a waste management problem.

Paper long abstract:

In Romania, a country with a waste management problem and lax waste legislation, the endurance of plastics is yet to be fully acknowledged and dealt with in a sustainable way. More recently, timid attempts have been made to raise awareness about the plastic waste crisis, ranging from exhibitions, the public shaming of retailers for their careless use of plastic packaging to programmes of ecological education and campaigns of collecting plastic waste. This paper focuses on the experiences and reflections of the initiators of such activities. They occupy a challenging position between consumers, whom appear insufficiently informed and/or interested, and to authorities, who seem content with the neoliberal model of environmental governance, which shifts responsibility for environmental protection/destruction onto consumers. The paper investigates the impact of the knowledge these initiators accumulate on their own conceptualisation of plastic, noting their mundane use and disposal of plastic objects, their revelations that plastic has its own agency and recycling is not the solution, and the dilemmas posed by their simultaneous involvement in the demonisation of plastic and recognition of the positive role this material might play in many domains and the pressure the plastic-free alternatives might put on natural resources. They come to see plastic not only as inert matter, beneficial or not, but also as animated matter, malevolent or not. Nevertheless, they consider the negative portrayal of plastic a vital strategy for encouraging a responsible engagement. The paper thus contributes to further nuancing the debate about the demonisation of plastic.