A ruling power can stop a subordinate authority from building basic systems like sewage works. It can then point to the resulting mess as proof that the subordinate is incompetent and cannot govern itself. Talk of a shared environment becomes a reason for the stronger side to stay in charge.
Under occupation, used goods thrown out by the more powerful society can be worth more than the new goods sold locally, simply because they are better made. People buy them for quality, not to save money or the planet. Buying them still brings a national shame at living off the occupier's castoffs.
Waste is usually thought of as matter out of place, something that gets carried off somewhere else. When people cannot send it away, because they lack land, borders or authority, it stays among them and becomes part of the place they live in. It keeps returning instead of disappearing.
When harm builds up slowly from many mixed sources, nobody can say clearly who is responsible. That confusion is itself a form of rule, because it weakens the clear sense of blame that a single visible attack, such as a house being knocked down, would produce. People may even turn on their neighbours instead of the stronger power involved.
Suffering can be real and constant yet spread across countless small daily burdens, like smells, dumped trash and bad goods. Because it has no single dramatic moment, it does not set off the mass protest that an open blockade would. Giving it a name gathers these scattered experiences into one recognisable condition.