Disruptive but normalizing?: What the formalization of informality can tell us about the circular economy in the Global South

Autores
Carenzo, Sebastian; Becerra, Lucas Dardo
Año de publicación
2024
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
parte de libro
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
The Circular Economy (CE) framework provides a new perspective on waste and resource management, from which we are invited to rethink our current social and economic patterns of production and consumption by encouraging reuse and recycling as a means to reduce the impact of resource extraction. The most optimistic approach highlights its potential to build-up a development strategy decoupling the use of virgin resources from economic growth, thereby contributing to sustainable development. The promoters of a systemic and global CE perspective highlight that this proposal provides a coherent and feasible roadmap to operate a transition from business models based on a linear economy (extraction-production-discarding) to a circular one based on flows of materials and energy which are integrated again into the productive process as loops and cascades. Therefore, the CE could be framed as a powerful narrative of change which has seen a broad deployment in industrialised countries, but is also spreading through the Global South. As the concept travels into new territories, it starts to confront more heterogeneous contexts, driving new theoretical and empirical tensions.Our argument builds on the identification of two complementary tensions regarding the potential implementation of Circular Business Models (CBM) in the global South. The first tension unfolds when considering the potential role of the CE when it comes to fostering or inhibiting social inclusion in the context of a sharp growth of social inequalities since the 1970s all over the region. As we already mentioned, circular economy initiatives are considered as a way to develop green and lucrative business opportunities. However, it is still unclear how these new circular guidelines could create mechanisms that encompass the individual and social development of workers and their communities. Complementarily, the second tension focuses on the CE´s adequacy for the global South, as up until now many of the local initiatives follow the mainstream perspective on CE elaborated in correspondence with the global North realities. This could lead to fostering the involvement of corporate and business actors in the CE, while community-based organisations (CBOs) and Social Movements are kept out, even when they have developed a wide range of innovative techno-productive and ideological practices that could easily be framed within the CE principles. Hence, here the CE narrative shows an interesting ambiguity, as it provides a disrupting narrative in the North – i.e. contesting linear production and consumption patterns - but, at the same time, represents a normalising narrative in the South – promoting a unique global sustainability benchmark. In this sense, the "formalisation" of so-called “informal recycling”, provides a powerful tool to problematise this ambiguity within the Latin American context. In fact, it is possible to translate the disruption/normalisation dyad in terms of different models of organisation for the “informal” workers within local CE initiatives, which involve contrasting visions about the relation between waste, knowledge and labour.
Fil: Carenzo, Sebastian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencias Sociales. Instituto de Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnología; Argentina
Fil: Becerra, Lucas Dardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencias Sociales. Instituto de Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnología; Argentina
Materia
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
INFORMALITY
INEQUALITY
GLOBAL SOUTH
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/240211

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spelling Disruptive but normalizing?: What the formalization of informality can tell us about the circular economy in the Global SouthCarenzo, SebastianBecerra, Lucas DardoCIRCULAR ECONOMYINFORMALITYINEQUALITYGLOBAL SOUTHhttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.9https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5The Circular Economy (CE) framework provides a new perspective on waste and resource management, from which we are invited to rethink our current social and economic patterns of production and consumption by encouraging reuse and recycling as a means to reduce the impact of resource extraction. The most optimistic approach highlights its potential to build-up a development strategy decoupling the use of virgin resources from economic growth, thereby contributing to sustainable development. The promoters of a systemic and global CE perspective highlight that this proposal provides a coherent and feasible roadmap to operate a transition from business models based on a linear economy (extraction-production-discarding) to a circular one based on flows of materials and energy which are integrated again into the productive process as loops and cascades. Therefore, the CE could be framed as a powerful narrative of change which has seen a broad deployment in industrialised countries, but is also spreading through the Global South. As the concept travels into new territories, it starts to confront more heterogeneous contexts, driving new theoretical and empirical tensions.Our argument builds on the identification of two complementary tensions regarding the potential implementation of Circular Business Models (CBM) in the global South. The first tension unfolds when considering the potential role of the CE when it comes to fostering or inhibiting social inclusion in the context of a sharp growth of social inequalities since the 1970s all over the region. As we already mentioned, circular economy initiatives are considered as a way to develop green and lucrative business opportunities. However, it is still unclear how these new circular guidelines could create mechanisms that encompass the individual and social development of workers and their communities. Complementarily, the second tension focuses on the CE´s adequacy for the global South, as up until now many of the local initiatives follow the mainstream perspective on CE elaborated in correspondence with the global North realities. This could lead to fostering the involvement of corporate and business actors in the CE, while community-based organisations (CBOs) and Social Movements are kept out, even when they have developed a wide range of innovative techno-productive and ideological practices that could easily be framed within the CE principles. Hence, here the CE narrative shows an interesting ambiguity, as it provides a disrupting narrative in the North – i.e. contesting linear production and consumption patterns - but, at the same time, represents a normalising narrative in the South – promoting a unique global sustainability benchmark. In this sense, the "formalisation" of so-called “informal recycling”, provides a powerful tool to problematise this ambiguity within the Latin American context. In fact, it is possible to translate the disruption/normalisation dyad in terms of different models of organisation for the “informal” workers within local CE initiatives, which involve contrasting visions about the relation between waste, knowledge and labour.Fil: Carenzo, Sebastian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencias Sociales. Instituto de Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnología; ArgentinaFil: Becerra, Lucas Dardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencias Sociales. Instituto de Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnología; ArgentinaBloomsbury PublishingO'Hare, PatrikRams, Dagna2024info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/bookParthttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_3248info:ar-repo/semantics/parteDeLibroapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/240211Carenzo, Sebastian; Becerra, Lucas Dardo; Disruptive but normalizing?: What the formalization of informality can tell us about the circular economy in the Global South; Bloomsbury Publishing; 2024; 113-132978-1-3502-9665-7CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph-detail?docid=b-9781350296664&pdfid=9781350296664.0003.pdf&tocid=b-9781350296664-contributorsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-29T09:40:37Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/240211instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-29 09:40:37.82CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Disruptive but normalizing?: What the formalization of informality can tell us about the circular economy in the Global South
title Disruptive but normalizing?: What the formalization of informality can tell us about the circular economy in the Global South
spellingShingle Disruptive but normalizing?: What the formalization of informality can tell us about the circular economy in the Global South
Carenzo, Sebastian
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
INFORMALITY
INEQUALITY
GLOBAL SOUTH
title_short Disruptive but normalizing?: What the formalization of informality can tell us about the circular economy in the Global South
title_full Disruptive but normalizing?: What the formalization of informality can tell us about the circular economy in the Global South
title_fullStr Disruptive but normalizing?: What the formalization of informality can tell us about the circular economy in the Global South
title_full_unstemmed Disruptive but normalizing?: What the formalization of informality can tell us about the circular economy in the Global South
title_sort Disruptive but normalizing?: What the formalization of informality can tell us about the circular economy in the Global South
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Carenzo, Sebastian
Becerra, Lucas Dardo
author Carenzo, Sebastian
author_facet Carenzo, Sebastian
Becerra, Lucas Dardo
author_role author
author2 Becerra, Lucas Dardo
author2_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv O'Hare, Patrik
Rams, Dagna
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv CIRCULAR ECONOMY
INFORMALITY
INEQUALITY
GLOBAL SOUTH
topic CIRCULAR ECONOMY
INFORMALITY
INEQUALITY
GLOBAL SOUTH
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.9
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv The Circular Economy (CE) framework provides a new perspective on waste and resource management, from which we are invited to rethink our current social and economic patterns of production and consumption by encouraging reuse and recycling as a means to reduce the impact of resource extraction. The most optimistic approach highlights its potential to build-up a development strategy decoupling the use of virgin resources from economic growth, thereby contributing to sustainable development. The promoters of a systemic and global CE perspective highlight that this proposal provides a coherent and feasible roadmap to operate a transition from business models based on a linear economy (extraction-production-discarding) to a circular one based on flows of materials and energy which are integrated again into the productive process as loops and cascades. Therefore, the CE could be framed as a powerful narrative of change which has seen a broad deployment in industrialised countries, but is also spreading through the Global South. As the concept travels into new territories, it starts to confront more heterogeneous contexts, driving new theoretical and empirical tensions.Our argument builds on the identification of two complementary tensions regarding the potential implementation of Circular Business Models (CBM) in the global South. The first tension unfolds when considering the potential role of the CE when it comes to fostering or inhibiting social inclusion in the context of a sharp growth of social inequalities since the 1970s all over the region. As we already mentioned, circular economy initiatives are considered as a way to develop green and lucrative business opportunities. However, it is still unclear how these new circular guidelines could create mechanisms that encompass the individual and social development of workers and their communities. Complementarily, the second tension focuses on the CE´s adequacy for the global South, as up until now many of the local initiatives follow the mainstream perspective on CE elaborated in correspondence with the global North realities. This could lead to fostering the involvement of corporate and business actors in the CE, while community-based organisations (CBOs) and Social Movements are kept out, even when they have developed a wide range of innovative techno-productive and ideological practices that could easily be framed within the CE principles. Hence, here the CE narrative shows an interesting ambiguity, as it provides a disrupting narrative in the North – i.e. contesting linear production and consumption patterns - but, at the same time, represents a normalising narrative in the South – promoting a unique global sustainability benchmark. In this sense, the "formalisation" of so-called “informal recycling”, provides a powerful tool to problematise this ambiguity within the Latin American context. In fact, it is possible to translate the disruption/normalisation dyad in terms of different models of organisation for the “informal” workers within local CE initiatives, which involve contrasting visions about the relation between waste, knowledge and labour.
Fil: Carenzo, Sebastian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencias Sociales. Instituto de Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnología; Argentina
Fil: Becerra, Lucas Dardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencias Sociales. Instituto de Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnología; Argentina
description The Circular Economy (CE) framework provides a new perspective on waste and resource management, from which we are invited to rethink our current social and economic patterns of production and consumption by encouraging reuse and recycling as a means to reduce the impact of resource extraction. The most optimistic approach highlights its potential to build-up a development strategy decoupling the use of virgin resources from economic growth, thereby contributing to sustainable development. The promoters of a systemic and global CE perspective highlight that this proposal provides a coherent and feasible roadmap to operate a transition from business models based on a linear economy (extraction-production-discarding) to a circular one based on flows of materials and energy which are integrated again into the productive process as loops and cascades. Therefore, the CE could be framed as a powerful narrative of change which has seen a broad deployment in industrialised countries, but is also spreading through the Global South. As the concept travels into new territories, it starts to confront more heterogeneous contexts, driving new theoretical and empirical tensions.Our argument builds on the identification of two complementary tensions regarding the potential implementation of Circular Business Models (CBM) in the global South. The first tension unfolds when considering the potential role of the CE when it comes to fostering or inhibiting social inclusion in the context of a sharp growth of social inequalities since the 1970s all over the region. As we already mentioned, circular economy initiatives are considered as a way to develop green and lucrative business opportunities. However, it is still unclear how these new circular guidelines could create mechanisms that encompass the individual and social development of workers and their communities. Complementarily, the second tension focuses on the CE´s adequacy for the global South, as up until now many of the local initiatives follow the mainstream perspective on CE elaborated in correspondence with the global North realities. This could lead to fostering the involvement of corporate and business actors in the CE, while community-based organisations (CBOs) and Social Movements are kept out, even when they have developed a wide range of innovative techno-productive and ideological practices that could easily be framed within the CE principles. Hence, here the CE narrative shows an interesting ambiguity, as it provides a disrupting narrative in the North – i.e. contesting linear production and consumption patterns - but, at the same time, represents a normalising narrative in the South – promoting a unique global sustainability benchmark. In this sense, the "formalisation" of so-called “informal recycling”, provides a powerful tool to problematise this ambiguity within the Latin American context. In fact, it is possible to translate the disruption/normalisation dyad in terms of different models of organisation for the “informal” workers within local CE initiatives, which involve contrasting visions about the relation between waste, knowledge and labour.
publishDate 2024
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2024
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
info:eu-repo/semantics/bookPart
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_3248
info:ar-repo/semantics/parteDeLibro
status_str publishedVersion
format bookPart
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/240211
Carenzo, Sebastian; Becerra, Lucas Dardo; Disruptive but normalizing?: What the formalization of informality can tell us about the circular economy in the Global South; Bloomsbury Publishing; 2024; 113-132
978-1-3502-9665-7
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/240211
identifier_str_mv Carenzo, Sebastian; Becerra, Lucas Dardo; Disruptive but normalizing?: What the formalization of informality can tell us about the circular economy in the Global South; Bloomsbury Publishing; 2024; 113-132
978-1-3502-9665-7
CONICET Digital
CONICET
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language eng
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Bloomsbury Publishing
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