Frá öskuhaugum til urðunar. Fornleifafræði íslensks heimilissorps frá 1850-1990 - verkefni lokið

Fréttatilkynning verkefnisstjóra

21.11.2023

Gerð rusls breytist eftir tímabilum sem og venjur við endurvinnslu og endurnýtingu. Magn þess eykst í byrjun 20. aldar og gerð þess breytist með tilkomu nýrra hluta, verksmiðjuframleiddra leirkera, glers og plasts, svo dæmi séu tekin. Eftir því sem heimilin framleiða meira rusl eykst þrýstingur á að varpa ábyrgðinni frá heimilunum til yfirvalda. Undir lok 19. aldar er úrgangur heimilanna hvort tveggja rusl og skólp en eftir því sem 20. öldinni vindur fram eru þessir hlutir skýrt aðskildir og úrvinnsla þeirra fer eftir ólíkum leiðum, jafnan utan heimilisins. Þessi flutningur á ábyrgð og aðskilnaður efnis veldur því að tengls milli nýtingar auðlinda og hráefnis, neyslu og sóunar eru rofin. Þessi tengsl sem kalla má félags- og efnahagsleg efnaskipti eru grundvöllur þeirra framleiðslu- og neysluferla, sem sífellt verða hraðari. Rannsóknin skýrir þessi tengls milli hráefna, framleiðslu, neyslu og sóunar með því að skoða neyslu á hlutum s.s. fatnaði, eldsneyti og byggingarefni á Íslandi á tímabilinu sem um ræðir. Niðurstöðurnar benda til að það séu ekki hraðari ferlar endurvinnslu og endurnýtingar eða tæknilausnir sem munu skipta mestu máli í baráttunni við ruslið heldur sé mikilvægt að hægja á ferlinu, fremur en að straumlínulaga ferli sóunar.

English:

The project analysed archaeological and documentary evidence on waste in the 19th and early
20th centuries. It concluded that the creation of waste is a fundamental part of human and
environmental relations. The makeup of waste changes through time as do practices of recycling and reuse. The amount of waste increases at the turn of the 20th century and it’s make-up changes with the addition of new materials, such as industrially manufactured glass, ceramics and plastics. As the amount of household waste increases pressure grows to shift the responsibility of this waste from households to the authorities. At the end of the 19th century the treatment of domestic waste is tied up with treatment of sewage and slop water. The distinction between these waste streams becomes starker as methods of disposal are divided between different actors and through different mechanisms. The separation of different types of waste and the transfer of responsibility creates a rupture in what can be referred to as socio economic metabolism. The use of resources to manufacture things consumed, weather those are objects, water or energy are divorced from their wasting as the wheel of production and consumption speeds up. The research reconnects these factors through an analysis of objects of waste, fuel residues, and building debris and suggests that a slower approach is needed where the speed and efficiency of the processes of wasting, and recycling is reduced. This is in opposition with many technological solutions to the wasting crises. It is proposed that living with waste is an integral part of the de growth the climate crises demands.

∙ Information on how the results will be applied
The results of the application is the publication of the monograph, the writing of which is well under way (see WP8). Other applications are in public talks and interviews aimed at raising awareness about the history of waste creation and what we can learn from the waste from the past (see WPs 7-10).
Any future applications of the completed research will be facilitated by the data excavated and
analysed, which is preserved at the National Museum of Iceland.

∙ A list of the project’s outputs
Seminar series and conference talks:
· 26th February 2020. From Middens to Landfills the Archaeology of domestic waste in Iceland
in 19th and 20th Centuries. University of Iceland.
· 17th April 2023 [scheduled]. Soil, Shit and Sheep the Socio-Economic Metabolism of Waste.

Radio interviews
· 30th June 2021 Víðsjá RUV
· 10th December 2021. Bítið Bylgjan
· 18th February 2022 Spegillinn RUV

Content on the web
· HÍ: Allt í rusli – Sorp sviptir hulunni af sögu okkar | Háskóli Íslands (hi.is)

Reports:
· Maxwell, Á.E. 2020. Uppgröftur í Hljómskálagarði 2020. Lokaskýrsla. Leyfisnúmer 202005-
0148. Rannsóknanúmer Þjóðminjasafnsins: 2020-23.

Data submitted to the National Museum of Iceland for preservation. (Can be accessed by the public)
· Archives: Diary from the excavation at Hljómskálagarður, register of photographs, drawings,
artefacts, list of artefacts, animal bones, final report
· Digital archives: Photographs, photographic index, drawings, artefact database, context index
and final report.

Heiti verkefnis: Frá öskuhaugum til urðunar. Fornleifafræði íslensks heimilissorps frá 1850-1990/ From Middens to Landfills. The Archaeology of Waste Disposal in Iceland 1850-1990
Verkefnisstjóri: Ágústa Edwald Maxwell, Háskóla Íslands
Tegund styrks: Nýdoktorsstyrkur
Styrktímabil: 2019-2021
Fjárhæð styrks kr. 29.827.000
Tilvísunarnúmer Rannís: 195825