How the socio- materiality of waste shapes the conditions for markets

1. How the socio-materialityofwasteshapes the conditions for markets Johan Hultman Hervé Corvellec Departmentof Service Studies Lund University Sweden Paper presented at the ESRN conference ’Embeddedness and Beyond’, October 27, Moscow

2. Aimsof the presentation Explain the socio-materialityofwaste Reflect over howwaste socio-materialitiesshape the conditions for markets

3. Absence – presence Waste is oftenunderstood as a problem to be managed – make it disappear! But ’waste’ is a categoryof material assemblages– just like products and services – and the presenceofwaste in societyshapes social life.

4. The socio-materialityofwaste Howwaste is defined and dealtwith, and the effectsthis has for the economy and the environment Waste demandsbodilyengagement: it smells, it needs space, it needsto be organized – the materialityofwaste calls for attention all the time

5. Butwhat is waste? A material categorythat is activelyproduced: ”…whathappens in society is thatpeople go towork, toschool, totheirbusinesses. And there material is produced. And this material wehavedecidedto mix in a container, and thenwecall it waste. Becausewastedoes not exist. There is no waste! There is only material! [But] into the container youput plastic. But plastic is not waste. Plastic is plastic. And youput in wood. And wood is wood. Butweinvented a word for it. And we call it waste.” (waste management company respondent, 2011)

6. Growth – scarcity Sweden is oneexampleof a capitalist consumersocietyaimed at: 1. economicgrowth, butalso… 2. …embedded in discoursesof material scarcity and global environmental problems

7. Economy – environment Problem Solution Wasting materials environmentallywrong Definewaste as a resourceinsteadof a problem All economicobjectsarethoroughlycultural /…/ (David Stark, 2009)

8. Re-defining the socio-materialityofwaste Sendingwasteto a landfill: make it disappear! = A dissociativewaste socio-materialitythatdemands no particularengagement from wasteproducers (households, businesses, organizations, etc)

9. Re-defining the socio-materialityofwaste Facilitating the sortingofwaste at the pointofits generation (e.g. multi-fractionwaste bins) in order to make re-use and recycling possible = An associativewaste socio-materialitythatdemandsbodilyengagement and new spatial arrangementsamongwasteproducers

10. The wastehierarchy

11. Waste socio-materialities Dissociative soc.-mat.

12. Waste socio-materialities Associative soc.-mat. Dissociative soc.-mat.

13. Waste socio-materialities Reflexive soc.-mat. Associative soc.-mat. Dissociative soc.-mat.

14. Waste hierarchyeconomics Recovery (waste-to-energythrough incineration), recycling and re-use make wasteinto an economicobject. Thisencouragesgrowth and increasedmaterial circulation. Avoidance (not toproducewaste at all) encourages new design practices, thrift, maintenanceand repair. Thismeansdecreased material circulation.

15. The conditions for markets Throughitscontradictorymaximization-minimizationlogic, the wastehierarchydefines the socio-materialityofwastedifferently

16. The conditions for markets Throughitscontradictorymaximization-minimizationlogics, the wastehierarchydefines the socio-materialityofwastedifferently Dissociative, associative and reflexivewaste socio-materialities fix the relation betweeneconomy and environment in different ways

17. The conditions for markets Throughitscontradictorymaximization-minimizationlogics, the wastehierarchydefines the socio-materialityofwastedifferently Dissociative, associative and reflexivewaste socio-materialities fix the relation betweeneconomy and environment in different ways Howeconomy and environmentarefixed in relation toeachothershape the conditions for markets

18. For example… Dissociativewaste markets Associative waste markets For mixed materials (to make incineration facilitiesworkoptimally) For energy and districtheating For increasinglysorted materials For infrastructures and services thatfacilitatesorting Brokers’ services for materials

19. …and reflexivewaste markets For infrastructuresthatfacilitateavoidance For services thatresults in avoidanceofwaste in production (fxmolecular-level design) For services thatdecrease the intensityofconsumption (fx personal environmental coach) For repair and maintenanceskills

20. Conclusions Waste socio-materiality: …is economically performative …shapes the conditions for markets …mightaffect the politicsofconsumption by encouragingreflectionamongwasteproducers

21. Thankyou for your attention! johan.hultman@ism.lu.se herve.corvellec@ism.lu.se