British sofas and global toxic flows

Abstract

Invisible and volatile, persistent and accumulating in the environment, toxic organic substances like Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are used in furniture and electrical appliances. They spread around the world through commodity production and consumption, second‐hand and waste trade, and air and sea currents, as well as in the bodies of migratory animals. Absorbed by and accumulated in living beings, they may interfere with metabolism and behaviour, and damage genetic material. Their flows connect British sofas to African recycling workshops to Chinese metal traders, and tropical waste dumps to arctic seabirds. They are the kind of material that the anthropology of the Anthropocene may attach itself to in seeking critical engagement with scientists, activists, regulators, and producers and consumers.