Waste as cultural heritage. A strategic approach to promote post-use materials as cultural assets

This paper aims to reconsider the impact and pervasive influence of wasted matters and to propose a broader notion of cultural heritage that can include the “everyday landscape” made of post-use materials, waste streams, flows of trash and discards.  It is argued that contemporary society should consider wasted matters as a future cultural heritage upon three main considerations. The first refers to the informational value embodied into wasted matters, a mostly invisible feature. In order to avoid loss of value, it is necessary to look at relationships rather than objects, through an approach based on ecology instead of efficiency.  Two examples that differently display in spatial form the informational value embodied into waste are mentioned. The second consideration concerns human-things and society-waste relations, as drivers for social innovation. The concept of commons is introduced in order to foresee a change in the way surplus and waste are managed and located in the urban environment.  Practices and initiatives based on civic empowerment and collaborative management are considered advisable.