Melissa Lee & Paula Schüler
"Getting rid of something is never a simple act that ends with disposal" [1, p. 1].
Paljassaare, a place where it holds things that are thrown away, we investigate the concept of waste and value in relation to the land. By studying various approaches to dealing with discarded materials, we aim to understand how waste and discussions surrounding waste have influenced the landscape over time.
Through the organisation and treatment of waste, we open the discussion on how these processes lead to the creation of value from materials and land in Paljassaare, within the context of Tallinn.
For many people, Paljassaare is seen merely as a "wasteland." The land in Paljassaare serves various purposes, with a significant portion dedicated to different stages and forms of waste collection. Waste has become a defining characteristic of Paljassaare, shaping its terrain and influencing perceptions of the area. In terms of material and physical waste disposal, as well as waste recycling, even the landscape itself is moulded by waste.
In our exploration, we dissected a portion of Paljassaare, Paljassaare tee 17, in hopes of explaining waste, waste management and its values. The discussion starts in front of a pile of collected waste, awaiting to be sorted and curated by its owners – different private actors on the site. At first glance, the land appears chaotic. The borders and the actors involved are difficult to discern, giving the impression that no order exists in the area. However, upon our conversations with the multiple actors on our site, it brought us a deeper understanding of approaches to waste treatment, and waste regimes. Here, everybody has a different story and different intentions.
Through our research, we came to believe that the value of waste lies in how it is organised and treated [2, p. 27]. The discussion led from unsorted waste to processed waste and ultimately to reusable “waste”. Paljassaare plays a crucial role in Tallinn’s waste management, serving as a storage and processing site rather than a disordered “wasteland”. This area demonstrates how waste is deeply tied to spatial, social, economic, and political processes, shaping both the landscape and societal order [3, p. 1351]. By designating Paljassaare as a waste area, the society reinforces boundaries between spaces of habitation and waste, highlighting its role as an organised interim ground for the city’s trash.
Snippets from our journey -
References:
[1] F. Martinez. Remains of the Soviet past in Estonia. UCL Press. 2018.
[2] Z. Gille, From the Cult of Waste to the Trash Heap of History: The Politics of Waste in Socialist and Post-Socialist Hungary. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2007.
[3] F. Martinez/ K. Beilmann, “Waste and postsocialism in Estonia: Becoming European through the management of rubbish,” Politics and Space. Vol. 38(7–8). Pp. 1348–1366. 2020. DOI: 10.1177/2399654420925083.