Anthropology, plastics, and sustainability at national seminar on contemporary practice

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After the Single Use researchers Akhilesh Bonthu and Nanda Kishore Kannuri presented a paper titled ‘Anthropology of Plastics: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Medical Waste and Sustainability’ at the National Seminar on Anthropology in Contemporary Practice: Pathways for a Sustainable Future organised by the Department of Anthropology, University of Hyderabad, during 26-27 September 2025

The presentation explored how anthropology can contribute to understanding and responding to the growing global challenge of plastic waste, with a particular focus on single-use plastics in healthcare systems.

Drawing on literature across medical anthropology, discard studies, science and technology studies, and sustainability research, the paper examined how plastics can be understood not only as material objects, but also as social, cultural, and political phenomena embedded within infrastructures of care, waste, and public health.

The presentation highlighted a range of interdisciplinary methods and approaches used to investigate medical waste, including ethnography, visual ethnography, life cycle analysis, co-design workshops, and “follow-the-thing” methodologies. It also discussed theoretical perspectives related to marginality, waste politics, biomedical waste protocols, and sustainability.

The paper argued for a transdisciplinary approach to plastics research, positioning anthropology as a field capable of addressing complex environmental and healthcare challenges through human-centred and socially grounded forms of inquiry.