10th Environmental Dialogue: Our Life With Waste: Between Consumption and Environmental Protection

Every year, every person living in Austria produces about 800 kilograms of waste: Plastic in all its forms, electronic waste, textiles, waste glass, cigarette butts, harmful substances of diverse chemical nature,… We could extend this list of waste products almost arbitrarily. As the success of our society is measured by the ever-increasing consumption of new products, it is not surprising that the disposal of these products is also becoming increasingly important. Therefore, waste volumes are massively increasing, not only in the private sector, but also in the academic and industrial sector. We can no longer overlook the traces of our consumption behaviour in the environment, whether in the Danube or on Mount Everest.

Nevertheless, we do not know much about where our waste goes once we have disposed of it. Where does it go? Who takes care that it is handled appropriately? Keywords such as ‘recycling’ or ‘circular economy’ are the supposed solution to the problem of waste. Waste containers make our consumption of yesterday disappear, batteries can be simply dispensed in the supermarket and plastic thrown away into the right bin solves the problem of massive use of single-use materials.

However, there are open questions about what happens to the things we throw away carelessly and the unpleasant question of (guilty) conscience: Do we really succeed in reconciling our intention to ‘do more for the environment’ with our love for new and easy, fast consumption?

When: 10 October 2023, Admission 17:30, Start: 18:00
Where: Upper cupola hall, Natural History Museum Vienna, main entrance – Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna

Welcome

• Katrin Vohland – Director General of the Natural History Museum Vienna
• Manuela Baccarini – Vice-Rector for Research and International Affairs at the University of Vienna
• Thilo Hofmann – Professor of Environmental Geosciences at the University of Vienna and Director of the Environment and Climate Research Hub

Keynote “Searching for Traces – Stories About What Remains”

• Ulrike Felt – Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Vienna

Panel Discussion With Participation From the Audience

• Ulrike Felt – Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Vienna
• Philipp Weber – Research assistant at the Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Vienna
• Josef Thon – Head of the Vienna Municipal Department 48 – Waste Management, Street Cleaning and Vehicle Fleet
• Moderator: Marlene Nowotny, science editor Ö1 radio