POLITICS OF GARBAGE GOVERNANCE: THE TRIAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE IN KOCHI

Solid waste management has become a major challenge in urban areas throughout the world. A lot of technical innovations and experiments are taking place in this regard. But however, these waste management practices are only technical and often lack a human perspective. This is especially true for Kerala where most of the cities waste management facilities are located in rural areas and it is the poor and politically powerless rural community that has to bear the brunt of solid waste all the time. This paper tries to provide a critical account of the present waste governance system of Kochi. It demonstrates the different kinds of impact that the present Brahmapuram solid waste treatment plant (which handles the Kochi citys waste) has on its neighbouring community and it also tries to throw some light on the root causes behind such impacts. The paper will confront the process of politicization that have emerged within the field of municipal solid waste by adopting a political ecology approach, which permits the consideration of multitude of actors, institutions and structures involved in waste management discourse in order to bring out the real factors contributing to environmental injustice. Key words: Waste governance, Political ecology, Capitalism, Environmental injustice, Rural urban scenario.

Sameena M.S. UGC Junior Research Fellow Department of Sociology, S.S.U.S, Kalady. E mail: seeitssam@yahoo.com