Scoasse Islands. The ordinary case of the ‘waste islands’

The article focuses on the theme of the recurring and composite geographical relationship between islands and ‘waste’. An endless geographic literature is centred on these two words and their conceptual derivations; on the other hand, the relationships triggered by their encounter appear, outside the theme of complex waste management in the island context, as little explored terrain. Here we will consider both islands in the strict sense – the destination of organic and inorganic waste from production and consumption systems, but also as spaces dedicated to total institutions – and in metaphorical meaning (floating waste islands, heat islands, “ecological island”, in the italian sense of a waste collection platform). Through a series of examples relating to micro-islands, i propose an initial taxonomy of the recurring situations that sees entire islands or considerable portions of them, frequently created or enlarged on purpose, destined to ‘host’ waste, sometimes with singular, physical and historical overlaps or juxtapositions.