The term Anthropocene, originating in geological discourse, signifies a profound shift in perspective: human activities have wrought irreversible changes upon the Earth (Crutzen, Stoermer 2000). Eco-phenomenology posits that a thorough evaluation of this paradigm necessitates a phenomenological inquiry (Brown, Toadvine 2003). Within this framework, the ramifications of waste, trash, and garbage are recognised, but they remain largely unexplored. More often than not, particularly within discard studies, the longevity and persistence of objects of trash have been positioned as a non-experience, as something, that emerges as waste, remnant, artefact, or discard, as sediments of human activity. This poses a significant challenge for phenomenology and eco-phenomenology.
There is an inherent disgust associated with trash, even if such an experience reflects but a fraction of what trash actually is. Though disgust fades once the object exits perception, its role in shaping our conception of trash cannot be overstated. Phenomenologically, the disgusting experience of trash has many dimensions: aesthetical, physical, moral, psychological, political, existential, etc. The axiological aspect of this experience highlights how disgust enforces a negative valuation of trash. Disgust sediments within discarded objects, and once these sediments are reactivated in the environmental context, they play a role in our conception of the world as they carry over into ecological consciousness. Consequently, this paper aims to elucidate the intricate relationship between trash and disgust within an eco-phenomenological framework, while remaining mindful of the inherent limitations of the phenomenological approach.