The politicization of the private sphere – or how the “garbage speaks”

Since my project deals with how information about the environment is communicated, and what appropriate activities that are suggested, I have especially noticed a campaign that seems to be spread over Buenos Aires. The whole city is covered in governmental posters that state the people should “play clean – jugá limpia” which is a term used for sports usually, but which here implies that people are requested to leave the garbage for collection on the street between 8 and 9 in the evening. Even if my current project doesn’t deal with the private sphere, I couldn’t help but notice an article the other day that proved to have many relations with my PhD project. The 3rd of April I read in Clarin that the local government has started to go through the household garbage that has been left on the street at hours when they are not expected to. The article tells of a man who found a bright red note on his door stating that they had found bills or envelops with his address on in the garbage bags and thereby been able to figure out that he was the guilty one for leaving garbage at inappropriate hours. This is a very similar story to what has been the case in Sweden, even if there the issue has concerned people who have thrown household garbage in the woods in order not to have to pay for its collection.

According to the article there are 45 inspectors with the task to supervise how people care for their garbage on the streets. The inspectors work for the Urban Hygiene Unit at the City. According to Clarin this specific policy for garbage was accepted in December 2007, and during 2008 the unit received more than 50.000 complaints out of which 87% concerned leaving garbage out of hours. Regular citizens pay a fine for between 50-500 pesos, while companies have to pay between 200-5.000 pesos. The majority of the complaints deal with companies since they are “easier to find”. According to the estimates about 10% of the porteños throw their garbage on the street out of hours.

What is not dealt with is how to reduce the constantly increasing amounts of waste. As long as you throw it away at the right hour, you are doing your civic duty. I cannot help but interpret this whole deal as anything else but a politicization of the private sphere.