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Against wasted politics: A critique of the circular economy | Ephemeral Journal

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The discourse of zero-waste and the circular economy has been championed by key players, such as the European Commission, management consultancies, NGOs, academics and multinational companies, in recent years. Given the all too obvious social and environmental crises associated with out-of-bounds growth capitalism, the circular economy has been one of the main references for rebuilding and reforming a political economy of sustainable growth. In this paper we detect a de-politicizing strategy in this attempt of reform, and, consequently, aim at re-locating a position for the politicization of growth-driven capitalism and the circular economy. We do this by offering a unique discursive-material theoretical framework, bringing together Marxist and Lacanian psychoanalytic readings. This will allow understanding both the subjective relation with the meaning of waste and the material exchanges that place the subject in the position to produce and consume waste as a valuable commodity. In our

Against wasted politics: A critique of the circular economy | Ephemera Journal Skip to main content Against wasted politics: A critique of the circular economy Organizing for the post-growth economy article Francisco Valenzuela Steffen Böhm 17-1valenzuelabohm.pdf (392.05 KB) Keywords post-growth circular economy waste management sustainability politics discourse analysis fetishism Marx Lacan Apple abstract The discourse of zero-waste and the circular economy has been championed by key players, such as the European Commission, management consultancies, NGOs, academics and multinational companie

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