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

Isabelle Hajek

Environmental Sociology, 2023
DOI: 10.1080/23251042.2023.2240080

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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’sFootnote1 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