Luigi Pellizzoni

Plastics are extremely useful, hence widespread materials, which however present two problems: they are part of the fossil fuel product chain, hence indirectly contribute to climate change, and they are persistent in the ecosystem, leading to ecological and health issues. The problems that arise from this are emblematic of a wide range of technologies and seem to be addressable in two ways: reducing the production and use of plastics, giving up to a certain extent the benefits they provide, or increasing their recycling and reuse, with related costs and difficulties. The problems both solutions present can be traced back, on the one hand, to the idea of degrowth and, on the other, to the idea of the circular economy. “Politicising” the latter, in the sense of asking how technical solutions interface with the social and economic context, as some propose, is useful in showing the need for a governance of innovation. In my presentation, I will focus on three aspects: a) the issue of basic needs and consumption corridors as a side route to the alternative between growth and degrowth; b) the issue of the governability of the future and therefore of uncertainty with regard to technologies and their impacts; c) the relationship between voluntarism and nudging in the sphere of everyday practices. Going beyond a plastic future, as the title suggests, means both thinking about a future with less (new) plastic and thinking about the plasticity of the future in a different way than usual.