DrShiori Shakuto

The current research aims to enhance our understanding of the social and cultural dynamics at play in the transnational chain of plastic waste, with attention paid to the cross-cutting axes of gender, class, ethnicity and nationality. By extending knowledge of how gendered labour in both plastic sending and receiving countries shapes the consumption and disposal of plastic waste, the research highlights the importance of including gender analysis in rethinking the environmental policy agenda. The project has two phases:

(1) Plastic Waste and Women's Household Practices in Japan, Singapore and Australia

This project documents how women, in different roles as homemakers, career professionals and workers, migrant domestic workers and environmental activists, have shaped, and are shaping the management of household plastic waste in plastic sending countries in the Asia Pacific region.

(2) Risks and Solutions: Marine Plastics in Malaysia

This project takes place in the plastic receiving country of Malaysia. While women in plastic sending countries are made to take on the main burden of green consumption and waste sorting, women in receiving countries are disproportionately affected by pollution from imported waste. The research examines social practices around plastics in Malaysia and situates them within the longer histories of geopolitical relations within the Asia Pacific region.