Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I explore on how the introduction of plastics and their ills as a topic for environmental education in Romania, laudable as it is, tends to strengthen neoliberal mantra of individual responsibility more than cultivate critical eco-mindsets.

Paper long abstract:

Plastics have become an intrinsic part of modern lives to the degree that it is hard for us to imagine a world without these materials or even notice their presence. Yet, the many ills of plastics and their contributions to climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution have increasingly been brought to public attention. In recent years, a globally circulating discourse has demonised plastics as dystopian materials that should be reduced, avoided, and eliminated. In this paper, drawing upon online and offline research carried out since 2020, I explore how this changing image of plastics is incorporated in environmental education in Romania. This is a society where environmental education has largely been delegated to parents, communities and NGOs, mandatory classes for primary and secondary schools being introduced in the curricula only starting with 2023. I focus on initiatives to raise awareness about plastic waste and pollution, not only environmental education programmes, but also eco-art performances, repurposing workshops, campaigns for cleaning-up rivers and the Danube Delta, campaigns for promoting selective waste collection and experiments with plastic bottles deposit schemes. I pay attention to who and for whom formulates the messages that these activities and programmes circulate and to the means they employ to deliver them. More, I foreground who sponsors these programmes and inquire about direct or indirect influence on content. Laudable as they are, these diverse programmes converge in the neoliberal ways in which they teach children to consume, use and recycle plastics ‘responsibly’, conveniently obscuring plastics’ connection to fossil fuels.