Engaging in reuse, gleaning and zero waste in France: a civic ecology of matter

ABSTRACT

A wide array of practices of recycling, reuse and waste reduction has emerged both in America and in Western Europe. This article examines the ways in which they reveal a new form of environmental engagement, based on the findings of a sociological study commissioned by the French national agency for the ecological transition ADEME’s¹ programme. Having discussed the links between waste policy and environmental activism in the French context, it shows that, to appreciate the transformative reach of these initiatives, a theoretical framework is needed that combines literature on citizen participation, on the relationships between activist and economic worlds, and on sustainable materialism. This joint theoretical framework is used to analyse the civic ecology of matter that emerges from these anti-waste initiatives, transforming society’s relationship to waste.

KEYWORDS:

• Zero waste
• gleaning
• reuse
• engagement
• policy
• ecology of matter
• civic ecology

Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge Mireille Diestchy who conducted the interviews with activists of RC and DS, and Jean-Yves Bart, who translated this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Énergie.

2. By order of priority: prevention, preparation for reuse, recycling, conversion and elimination.

3. From protest to reform of the economic offer and the creation of new markets.

4. Réseaux Émergents de Lutte contre le Gaspillage (Hajek and Diestchy 2019). The author conceived and coordinated the study, and conducted part of the interviews and observations. Monographs were co-written with Mireille Diestchy; the theoretical section of the report, the monograph on the zero waste movement and the comparison of the field studies were done by the author.

5. It is worth noting that this non-interventional study was conducted between 2016 and 2019, at a time when ethics committees had not systematically been set up in France. However, special attention to the ethical implications of the research was paid (see §4).

6. During the events of May 1968 in France, the établis were members of Maoist groups that gave up on their studies and careers to join the proletariat and work in factories.

7. These are mostly women. For an analysis that focuses on women and zero waste, see author (Guien, Hajek, and Ollitrault 2020).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency, Ademe (Program Mobilisation of the concept of waste N°1577C0020). This chapter received editorial support from the Maison Interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme d’Alsace (MISHA) and the Excellence Initiative of the University of Strasbourg.

Notes on contributors

Isabelle Hajek

Isabelle Hajek, is Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Strasbourg and affiliated with the laboratory Societies, Actors and Government in Europe (SAGE UMR CNRS 7363).