Support to the creation of a social sciences network applied to waste management

Summary

RECORD members expressed a desire to promote a new theme, that of the social sciences. One of the key ideas was the creation of a network of skills, as had been done in the field of health. CREIDD was therefore asked to draw up an inventory of social science work relating to waste management, and to lay the foundations for a network of social science researchers working on waste management. This mission began by identifying both the people and the work likely to meet the expectations of RECORD members. The people identified, researchers in the social sciences and humanities who had worked at one time or another on the subject of waste, were contacted in order to organise a meeting. Several meetings were organised. It emerged that researchers were interested in two main areas:
1. territorial governance of waste management
2. new responsibilities and changes in behaviour.

Following this, a literature review was carried out to provide an overview of the type of work that can be found in the field, based on the two areas defined collectively. The assignment led to a number of observations and recommendations. The first observation is that it is extremely difficult to bring together the energies of the few social science researchers working on the issue of waste in a stable way. Disciplinary logics, publication objectives and changes in the world of research mean that it is difficult, even counter-productive, to insist on creating a network that then has to be kept alive. This rather negative observation should not, however, lead us to believe that nothing can be done to support work in the social sciences on the issue of waste. Several recommendations were made on work that RECORD could support, such as case studies on consultation, with the particular aim of contributing to the drafting of a consultation guide on territorial waste governance. It was also suggested that RECORD members who are not yet involved in this approach should take a closer look at the issue of industrial ecology and, in particular, the economy of functionality and, more generally, at issues upstream of waste management.