A defense of waste: the case of municipal food recycling in Sweden

Abrahamsson, Sebastian

doi:10.1080/23251042.2022.2124622

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…It has been argued that circular systems have limited potential for sustainability with too much focus on the assumed advantages of circularity, which is not always realised, and, as such, the value estimated from such systems should be approached with caution (Corvellec, Stowell, and Johansson 2021, 8). Concerning biogas and digestate production, others have argued that circular systems based on waste tend to become a defence of excess waste when waste becomes a resource (Abrahamsson 2022;Corvellec 2013). Other concerns are the measurement of the environmental impact of biogas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Benefits to Value(s): Biogas Systems Valuation Practices from a Swedish Regional Perspective

Brett

2023

JSD

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Local and regional contexts are essential spaces to promote sustainable energy transitions. Within this space, biogas production and use are one choice considered part of a regional sustainable transition. The valuation of different options has become a recurrent and vital activity in connection with strategic energy decisions in the public sector. However, capturing the diverse benefits of biogas is challenging. This study scrutinises the socially and politically bounded practice that (re)produces value(s) by examining the valuation practices related to biogas performed by regional and national actors in Sweden. It finds that although the valuation practice has a degree of formality, it still reflects local needs and specific contexts. A wide range of benefits undergoes a translation process to produce value(s) using qualitative and quantitative rationalities. Still, there is tension between the desire to prioritise quantitative methods while at the same time acknowledging that some benefits are too difficult to quantify. This paper contributes to the literature on the valuation of non-market objects by highlighting the connections between established scientific and economic procedures and performative processes and the importance of rejecting a binary view of quantification and qualification.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Benefits to Value(s): Biogas Systems Valuation Practices from a Swedish Regional Perspective

Brett

2023

JSD

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“… 14. This idea of waste as a potential resource features prominently in the ideology of the circular economy. For a critical reading of the narrowing of waste to an economic value, see Abrahamsson (forthcoming). Also, for a critique of the embrace of the circular economy by big corporations in order to continue with ‘business as usual’ see Gibson et al (2019).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The material politics of living in close proximity to our wastewaters: A case of decentralisation in the Netherlands

Martín

Smits

2022

Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space

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This paper investigates how decentralised wastewater treatment initiatives experiment with ways to live in close proximity to wastewater and their potentiality for a future with less polluting wastewater. In the Netherlands, there is a contested political debate about whether centralised or decentralised technologies are better. Rather than engaging in this deliberative political debate, we articulate a less visible and more material politics by tracing different ways of ordering wastewater treatment in practice. Drawing on fieldwork with inhabitants, scientists, and engineers who have brought wastewater treatment ‘close to home’, we examine the turn to decentralisation as a material object of enquiry which, in turn, shapes our engagement with pollutants, technologies, and a range of non-human actors. We ask: What kinds of living together in close proximity to our waste do such decentralised experiments allow for?

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Themes and sentiments in conversations about food waste on Twitter: Proposal of a framework using neural topic modeling

Barbosa,

Gomes

2025

Food Quality and Preference

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A defense of waste: the case of municipal food recycling in Sweden

Cited by 5 publications

References 28 publications

From Benefits to Value(s): Biogas Systems Valuation Practices from a Swedish Regional Perspective

From Benefits to Value(s): Biogas Systems Valuation Practices from a Swedish Regional Perspective

The material politics of living in close proximity to our wastewaters: A case of decentralisation in the Netherlands

Themes and sentiments in conversations about food waste on Twitter: Proposal of a framework using neural topic modeling

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