Consumption work and systems of provision: practices of
recycling in England and Sweden Miriam Glucksmann and Katy Wheeler
SPRG Workshop, Essex, January 2012 Slide 2 European Research
Council Advanced Investigator Grant 2010 - 2013 Research Programme:
Consumption Work and Societal Divisions of Labour
http://www.essex.ac.uk/sociology/research/divlab Slide 3 Objectives
Renew/reconceptualise division of labour Elaborate Socio-economic
formations of labour Bring work of consumers into framework Use
consumption work as entry route Develop novel empirical domain
Slide 4 Technical Division of Labour Modal Total Social
Organisation of Labour Economic Processual Instituted Economic
Process of Labour Socio-Economic Formations of Labour Dimensions of
differentiation and integration of labour Slide 5 Technical
Division of Labour = DL Total Social Organisation of Labour = Modal
Instituted Economic Process of Labour = Economic Processual Slide 6
Dimension 1. Division of labour Classical conception Smith, Marx,
Durkheim, Braverman etc Technical division of tasks and skills
fragmentation + specialisation Hierarchy of jobs, rewards
Complementarity of occupations Allocation to different kinds of
people on the basis of gender, ethnicity, nationality etc Slide 7
Dimension 2 Modal total social organisation of labour labour
undertaken on different socio-economic bases market; state;
household; not-for-profit sector; community; voluntary paid/unpaid;
formal/informal hybrids interactions between modes Field of
activity Scale: micro, meso, macro, national Slide 8 Dimension 3.
Instituted Economic Processes of Labour adds work into Polanyian
IEP approach connections between labour across all stages of a
process production, distribution, exchange, consumption +
marketing, advertising and other intermediary processes NB.
includes work of consumers consumption work Innovations/change in
one phase have knock-on effects for others e.g. Ikea-isation Slide
9 Technical Division of Labour Modal Total Social Organisation of
Labour Economic Processual Instituted Economic Process of Labour
Socio-Economic Formations of Labour Dimensions of differentiation
and integration of labour Slide 10 consumption work, all work
necessary for the purchase, use, re-use and disposal of consumption
goods and services. Slide 11 Research question how and why
consumption work varies in different countries and fields of
activity, and what it is shaped by? Three case studies selected for
the range of questions each raises about consumption work and its
increasing socio-economic importance: 1) domestic broadband
installation 2) food preparation 3) household recycling of waste
Slide 12 Household recycling of waste -a distinctive way of dealing
with a perennial issue - historically unprecedented levels of
domestic waste have led to concerted government strategies for its
disposal, including household recycling. -Recycling, as a form of
'post-consumption' work, problematises in a different way the
relation between work and consumption -Relation between moral
economy and political or market economy -England and Sweden Slide
13 Methods 30 Interviews with waste experts 12 in Sweden 18 in
England Selection of 5 Local Authority/Municipal areas Lund and
Stockholm (Sweden) Essex, Shropshire and Lewisham (England) Site
visits to recycling and waste treatment facilities Still to do:
Household study Slide 14 Dimensions of comparison 1.The key actors
and institutions providing waste management services 2.The role of
the public and private sectors 3.Variations in the collection
systems between and within the countries 4.The degree to which
recycling waste is separate from other household waste 5.The
technologies employed to deal with waste 6.Strategies for
mobilising consumers to recycle Slide 15 Citizen- Consumer Sort
Transport FTI Recycling station Swedish System Producers, members
of FTI Municipal recycling centre Slide 16 The producers system
Slide 17 The municipalitys system Slide 18 Citizen- Consumer Dont
sort Sort Re- processing Transport FTI Recycling station Municipal
recycling centre Municipal Disposal - Incineration Swedish System
Private WMC collection but material owned by FTI Private WMC/
Municipality Producers, members of FTI Slide 19 Dimensions of
ComparisonSwedenEngland The key actors and institutions providing
waste management services FTI, municipalities, private waste
management companies, consumer The role of the public and private
sectors Public sector dominance Variations in the collection
systems between and within the countries One system common across
Sweden The degree to which recycling waste is separate from other
household waste Recyclable packaging/ newspaper operates in a
separate system to the general waste The technologies employed to
deal with waste Incineration, limited technological after-sorting
Strategies for mobilising consumers to recycle Consumer mobilised
to recycle for the environment, education aimed at children, no
personalised feedback to individual households. Slide 20 Citizen-
Consumer Dont sort Sort Source separation Re- processing Private
WMC Disposal - landfill English System Private WMC/ Municipality
Producers Slide 21 Source separation Slide 22 Citizen- Consumer
Dont sort Sort Source separation Twin- stream Commingled Private
WMC MRF Re- processing Private WMC Disposal - landfill English
System Private WMC/ Municipality Producers Slide 23 MRFs Some
councils offer a source segregated system which works very well and
where the householders are willing to bear that labour and put
their bottle out here, their can out there, their piece of plastic
out there and tear off different bits of materials which are all
ingrained within the same product, clear out bits of food from
each, and where theyre willing to do that and willing to bear that
labour, its very good to get them to do it, they dont normally
charge for it. But in other places, the classics being high-rise
flats in inner-city locations where people are very busy, people
dont have time or the inclination to do it. Commingled systems make
things much easier for the household and there the division of
labour shifts to the technology, it shifts to the industry - to say
were going to do less at this end, so you need to do more. The
labour just shifts down the supply chain. Slide 24 Dimensions of
ComparisonSwedenEngland The key actors and institutions providing
waste management services FTI, municipalities, private waste
management companies, consumer Local authorities, private waste
management companies, consumer The role of the public and private
sectors Public sector dominancePrivate sector dominance Variations
in the collection systems between and within the countries One
system common across Sweden Much variation between and within local
authority collection systems The degree to which recycling waste is
separate from other household waste Recyclable packaging/ newspaper
managed in a separate system to general household waste Recyclable
waste managed through the same system as general household waste
The technologies employed to deal with waste Incineration, limited
technological after-sorting Landfill, MRFs (technological
after-sorting) Strategies for mobilising consumers to recycle
Consumer mobilised to recycle for the environment; education aimed
at children; no personalised feedback to individual households.
Consumers encouraged to recycle to save public money and for the
environment; targeted feedback to individual households Slide 25
Recycling research so far reveals: Complex technical division of
labour: many tasks and skills and local and global reach Slide 26
Slide 27 Recycling research so far reveals: Complex technical
division of labour: many tasks and skills and local and global
reach Relies on work undertaken in a variety of socio-economic
modes: paid/unpaid, public sector/private market, not/for profit
Work performed at any one stage in process presupposes the others
Slide 28 Waste treatment Sweden (09)Waste treatment England (09/10)
Why Sweden and England?
