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Why the Social Sciences Matter pp 60–76Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Waste, Resource Recovery and Labour: Recycling Economies in the EU

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Abstract

Waste and its connections to a profligate consumerism have become a core concern for public policy in the developed nations in the twenty-first century. Whether the focus is food or mobile phones, computers or electrical goods, waste — and particularly post-consumer waste — is never far from view and moral concern. Reports have shown how at least a third of the food produced by the planet ends up not on the plate but as food waste (WRAP, 2008; Stuart, 2009; IME, 2013). Trends to faster manufacturer product cycles, cheaper products undermining the economics of repair, and technology and fashion-induced pressures to upgrade goods are seen to be critical to the emergence of ‘a throwaway society’ (Packard, 1960; Strasser, 2000; Cooper T. H, 2005, 2010; see also Gregson et al., 2007a). In the EU it is accepted that this has to change. A wave of policy initiatives has identified minimising and preventing waste as central to sustainable futures.

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Authors
  1. Nicky Gregson
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  2. Mike Crang
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Kellogg College, University of Oxford, UK

    Jonathan Michie (President) (President)

  2. Lancaster University, UK

    Cary L. Cooper (Distinguished Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health) (Distinguished Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health)

Copyright information

© 2015 Nicky Gregson and Mike Crang

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Gregson, N., Crang, M. (2015). Waste, Resource Recovery and Labour: Recycling Economies in the EU. In: Michie, J., Cooper, C.L. (eds) Why the Social Sciences Matter. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137269928_5

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