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Messy webs of opportunity and constraint: tracing practices of plastic recycling across the uneven urban geography of Cape Town
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | en_ZA |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613935915499520 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Du Preez, Kate Janet |
| author2 | Tayob, Shaheed |
| author_browse | Du Preez, Kate Janet Tayob, Shaheed |
| author_facet | Tayob, Shaheed Du Preez, Kate Janet |
| author_sort | Du Preez, Kate Janet |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/134607 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | en_ZA |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:44:03.396Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/134607 Messy webs of opportunity and constraint: tracing practices of plastic recycling across the uneven urban geography of Cape Town Du Preez, Kate Janet Tayob, Shaheed Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology. Recycling (Waste, etc.) -- South Africa -- Cape Town Urban geography -- South Africa -- Cape Town Refuse and refuse disposal -- South Africa -- Cape Town Sustainable urban development -- South Africa -- Cape Town Ragpickers -- South Africa -- Cape Town Informal sector (Economics) -- South Africa -- Cape Town UCTD Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Du Preez, K. J. 2025.Messy webs of opportunity and constraint: tracing practices of plastic recycling across the uneven urban geography of Cape Town. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/8054b66c-aae6-44b8-9102-805df2a37165 ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis investigates the recycling industry in Cape Town, South Africa, examining how materials move between producers, consumers, and informal waste reclaimers. I shed light on how networks of trade are formed, moral identities are constructed, and livelihoods are secured through plastic. Plastic, a material central to modern human life, is the very object that shapes the practices of recycling across the city. Cape Town is a site of significant unemployment, poverty, and inequality, an urban geography crucial to the network of recycling that operates there. On the one hand, plastic production forms part of the large and successful manufacturing sector in South Africa and generates great wealth and opportunity for both producers and recyclers. On the other hand, the resulting waste work of recycling reveals systemic inequalities tied to race and class where the filthy and demanding work is outsourced to the precarious poor. Reclaimers face exploitation in informal trade networks, stigmatisation from suburban residents, and vulnerability to violence while trying to make a living out of a prolific material of waste and value. The work at the core of the recycling industry is precarious, and stands in stark contrast to the comfortable spaces of consumption and successful zones of production that produce and revalue waste. Working with suburban consumers, industrial producers and informal waste pickers , this thesis presents an ethnography of these messy webs, revealing the opportunities and constraints of plastic recycling in Cape Town. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar nie. Masters 2025-12-18T10:10:08Z 2025-12-18T10:10:08Z 2025-12 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/134607 en_ZA Stellenbosch University 118 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Recycling (Waste, etc.) -- South Africa -- Cape Town Urban geography -- South Africa -- Cape Town Refuse and refuse disposal -- South Africa -- Cape Town Sustainable urban development -- South Africa -- Cape Town Ragpickers -- South Africa -- Cape Town Informal sector (Economics) -- South Africa -- Cape Town UCTD Du Preez, Kate Janet Messy webs of opportunity and constraint: tracing practices of plastic recycling across the uneven urban geography of Cape Town |
| title | Messy webs of opportunity and constraint: tracing practices of plastic recycling across the uneven urban geography of Cape Town |
| title_full | Messy webs of opportunity and constraint: tracing practices of plastic recycling across the uneven urban geography of Cape Town |
| title_fullStr | Messy webs of opportunity and constraint: tracing practices of plastic recycling across the uneven urban geography of Cape Town |
| title_full_unstemmed | Messy webs of opportunity and constraint: tracing practices of plastic recycling across the uneven urban geography of Cape Town |
| title_short | Messy webs of opportunity and constraint: tracing practices of plastic recycling across the uneven urban geography of Cape Town |
| title_sort | messy webs of opportunity and constraint tracing practices of plastic recycling across the uneven urban geography of cape town |
| topic | Recycling (Waste, etc.) -- South Africa -- Cape Town Urban geography -- South Africa -- Cape Town Refuse and refuse disposal -- South Africa -- Cape Town Sustainable urban development -- South Africa -- Cape Town Ragpickers -- South Africa -- Cape Town Informal sector (Economics) -- South Africa -- Cape Town UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/134607 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dupreezkatejanet messywebsofopportunityandconstrainttracingpracticesofplasticrecyclingacrosstheunevenurbangeographyofcapetown |