This collection of photos represents the “safari” (the word for journey in Swahili) behind the social, environmental and material complexities of waste and the act of wasting in daily life.

Guidelines to participate

This activity will happen during the OTB3 conference and represents a methodology to explore the relationship between consumption, post-consumption and waste practices through the elicitation of waste-objects.

This is a pair/group activity

The activity is divided into 3 parts.

Part 1:

• Listen to Waste Safari organisers Marta, Maria Jose, Francisco and John’s welcome words
• Prepare to introduce your waste research interests during the “speed dates” session to the other participants
• Choose 1 or 2 “Waste Safari companion(s)”, choose companions you are not acquainting to.

Part 2: Photo Shooting:

Your group can take photos at any moment and/or during the City Centre walk with Marta, Maria Jose’, Francisco and John

• Take photos.
  • Some location/situation ideas: infrastructures, practices, actions or wasting-situations such as recycling stations on campus, grocery stores, fast-food restaurants, clothes containers, and more if you are in town.
  • Some ideas to “interrogate” your waste:
    • • Who are you?
      • What are you doing here? How did you arrive here?
      • What kind of relations you have/had with humans and non-humans?
      • What are the positive and negative consequences of your existence?
      • How can we help you?
• Select 1 photo to send to otb3@lancaster.ac.uk by Friday 16th, 23:59. Make sure to include:
  • • Title, name of authors, description and brief reflection on waste/discard studies related to that photo (200 words max)

Part 3: Award Ceremony

• Come along and cheer the Waste Safari 2023 winners during the OTB3 Closing session on Saturday 17th

Photo contents:

• If featuring people (recognisable), make sure to have their consent to appear in your shot. This implies:
  • they agree to be on OTB3 conference website (public)
  • OTB social media channels (public)
  • OTB Flickr profile (public)

Please, make a note of the way you have obtained consent when submitting your photo.

• Avoid showing sensitive materials as your photo will appear on the OTB channels and, possibly, Lancaster University website dominion (OTB3 conference website).

Photos which do not oblige the above voice will be excluded from the Waste Safari activity.

Judging criteria:

• Relevance of the message: what does the photo show? Is that clear?
• Impact of the message: did the photo help to change/show/expose anything? Is that an investigation, a testimony or a story?
• Creativity

Check out Waste Safari 2021 winners’ videos on the OTB YouTube playlist Waste Safari 2021 @ OTB-2

For any questions, please contact otb3@lancaster.ac.uk – specify ‘Waste Safari’ in the email subject.