Vol. 7 No. 1 (2024): Rolling Issue
Research

Freecycling Markets as Sustainable Materialist Movements? Closing Reuse Circularity Loops in Singapore

PDF HTML
  • Qian Hui Tan,
  • Brenda S.A. Yeoh
Qian Hui Tan
Asia Research Institute
Brenda S.A. Yeoh
Asia Research Institute
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3197/whpww.63857928646673
Categories

Published 2024-08-12

Keywords

  • circular economy,
  • reuse,
  • rescue,
  • recirculation,
  • R-Behaviours,
  • Sustainable Materialism
    • ...More
    Less

How to Cite

Tan, Q. H., & Yeoh, B. S. (2024). Freecycling Markets as Sustainable Materialist Movements? Closing Reuse Circularity Loops in Singapore. Worldwide Waste, 7(1), Art. 1. https://doi.org/10.3197/whpww.63857928646673

Copyright (c) 2024 Qian Hui Tan, Brenda Yeoh

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This paper seeks to redress the over-emphasis on state-driven circular policies in public and academic discourses by attending to two physical community-based freecycling markets at the emerging frontiers of circular waste/resource management in Singapore. Freecycling markets that close short reuse loops are a counterpoint to policies that close long recycling loops. Drawing primarily on empirical data from ethnographic fieldwork, we argue that freecycling markets exemplify a sustainable materialist movement concerned about the sustainability of material resources vis-à-vis the closing/shortening of material circularity loops. This is achieved through the reconfiguration of (a) material flows and (b) material relations. The redirection of unwanted but reusable household objects away from the incinerator and towards potential reusers animates a shift from a linear to circular material flow. We contend that this redirection of material resources for reuse is augmented by rescue and recirculation, which are relatively neglected within the scholarship on circular R-behaviours. Additionally, freecycling markets seek to transform material relations by encouraging care and stewardship, instead of use and disposal. Crucially, we highlight how freecycling markets may be plagued with material constraints that render them not-so-sustainable-and-scalable, thereby shedding light on the practical limits of sustainable materialist action. Taken together, this paper extends the scholarship on circular economies by bringing work on sustainable materialism into a productive dialogue with that on circular activisms and R-behaviours.

PDF HTML

References

  1. Alexander, C. and P. O’Hare. 2020. ‘Waste and its disguises: Technologies of (un)knowing’. Ethnos: 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2020.1796734
  2. Bai, R. and M. Sutanto. 2002. ‘The practice and challenges of solid waste management in Singapore’. Waste Management 22 (5): 557–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0956-053X(02)00014-4
  3. Barreiro‐Gen, M. and R. Lozano. 2020. ‘How circular is the circular economy? Analysing the implementation of circular economy in organisations’. Business Strategy and the Environment 29 (8): 3484–494. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2590
  4. Böhm. S, C.H. Ho, H. Holmes, C. Manolchev, M. Rödl and W. Spekkink. 2023. ‘Circular society activism: prefigurative communities in everyday Circular Economy action’. In A. Alexander, S. Pascucci and F. Charnley (eds), Handbook of the Circular Economy: Transitions and Transformation. Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. pp. 241–59. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110723373-017
  5. Bradley, K. and O. Persson. 2022. ‘Community repair in the circular economy–fixing more than stuff’. Local Environment 27 (10–11): 1321–337. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2022.2041580
  6. Campbell-Johnston, K. W.J. Vermeulen, D. Reike and S. Brullot. 2020. ‘The circular economy and cascading: towards a framework’. Resources, Conservation & Recycling X (7): 100038. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcrx.2020.100038
  7. Carenzo, S., P. Juarez and L. Becerra. 2022. ‘Is there room for a circular economy “from below”? Reflections on privatisation and commoning of circular waste loops in Argentina’. Local Environment 27 (10–11): 1338–354. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2022.2048258
  8. Chen, Z. and A. Tan. 2021. ‘Exploring the circular supply chain to reduce plastic waste in Singapore’. LogForum 17 (2): 271–86. https://doi.org/10.17270/J.LOG.2021.564
  9. Chua, L.J. 2012. ‘Pragmatic resistance, law, and social movements in authoritarian states: The case of gay collective action in Singapore’. Law & Society Review 46 (4): 713–48. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2012.00515.x
  10. Coole, D. and S. Frost. 2010. New materialisms: Ontology, Agency, and Politics. Durham: Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822392996-002
  11. Eden, S. 2017. ‘Blurring the boundaries: Prosumption, circularity and online sustainable consumption through Freecycle’. Journal of Consumer Culture 17 (2): 265–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540515586871
  12. Gregson, N. M. Crang, S. Fuller and H. Holmes. 2015. ‘Interrogating the circular economy: The moral economy of resource recovery in the EU’. Economy and Society 44 (2): 218–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2015.1013353
  13. Guillard, V. and D. Roux. 2014. ‘Macromarketing issues on the sidewalk: How “gleaners” and “disposers” (re)create a sustainable economy’. Journal of Macromarketing 34 (3): 291–312. https://doi.org/10.1177/0276146713518562
  14. Herrmann, G.M. 1997. ‘Gift or commodity: What changes hands in the US garage sale?’ American Ethnologist 24 (4): 910–30. https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.1997.24.4.910
  15. Hobson, K. 2016. ‘Closing the loop or squaring the circle? Locating generative spaces for the circular economy’. Progress in Human Geography 40 (1): 88–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132514566342
  16. Hobson, K. 2020. ‘“Small stories of closing loops”: social circularity and the everyday circular economy’. Climatic Change 163 (1): 99–116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02480-z
  17. Holmes, H. 2018. ‘New spaces, ordinary practices: Circulating and sharing within diverse economies of provisioning’. Geoforum 88: 138–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.11.022
  18. Isenhour, C. and J. Reno. 2019. ‘On materiality and meaning: Ethnographic engagements with reuse, repair & care’. Worldwide Waste: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 2 (1): 1. http://doi.org/10.5334/wwwj.27
  19. Khaw-ngern, K. P. Peuchthonglang, L. Klomkul and C. Khaw-ngern. 2021. ‘The 9Rs strategies for the circular economy 3.0’. Psychology. Education Journal 58: 1440–446.
  20. Klug, K. 2017. ‘A gift for a stranger: Freecycling as a current lifestyle of sustainable consumption’. In T. Osburg and C. Lohrmann (eds), Sustainability in a Digital World: New Opportunities Through New Technologies. Cham: Springer. pp. 201–07. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54603-2_17
  21. Lansink, A. 2018. ‘Challenging changes – Connecting waste hierarchy and circular economy’. Waste Management and Research 36 (10): 872. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X18795600
  22. Liboiron, M. and J. Lepawsky. 2022. Discard Studies: Wasting, Systems, and Power. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/12442.001.0001
  23. Liu, F., Z. Johnson, C. Massiah and T.M. Lowrey. 2020. ‘Nonmonetary and nonreciprocal freecycling: Motivations for participating in online alternative giving communities’. Journal of Consumer Behaviour 19 (4): 339–50. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.1810
  24. Lou, L.I.T. 2019. ‘Freedom as ethical practices: On the possibility of freedom through freeganism and freecycling in Hong Kong’. Asian Anthropology 18 (4): 249–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/1683478X.2019.1633728
  25. Milios, L. and C. Dalhammar. 2020. ‘Ascending the waste hierarchy: Re-use potential in Swedish recycling centres’. Detritus 9: 27–37. https://doi.org/10.31025/2611-4135/2020.13912
  26. National Environment Agency Singapore (NEA). 2022. https://www.nea.gov.sg/our-services/waste-management/waste-statistics-and-overall-recycling. Accessed May 2023.
  27. Neo, H. 2021. ‘The post-politics of environmental engagement in Singapore’. In Paul Jobin , Ming-sho Ho and Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao (eds), Environmental Movements and Politics of the Asian Anthropocene. ISEAS Publishing. pp. 10–37. https://doi.org/10.1355/9789814951401-008
  28. Norbutas, L. and R. Corten. 2018. ‘Sustainability of generalized exchange in the sharing economy: the case of the “freecycling” Facebook groups’. International Journal of the Commons 12 (1): 111–33. https://doi.org/10.18352/ijc.789
  29. Ong, C., L. Fearnley and S.B Chia. 2021. ‘The diversity of divestment in Singapore: Junk commodities, charity gifts, and recycling bins’. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 4 (2): 603–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848620924564
  30. Price, J.L. and J.B. Joseph. 2000. ‘Demand management – a basis for waste policy: a critical review of the applicability of the waste hierarchy in terms of achieving sustainable waste management’. Sustainable Development 8 (2): 96–105. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1719(200005)8:2<96::AID-SD133>3.0.CO;2-J
  31. Pyyhtinen, O. and T.K. Lehtonen. 2022. ‘The gift of waste: The diversity of gift practices among dumpster divers’. Anthropological Theory: 14634996221117318. https://doi.org/10.1177/14634996221117318
  32. Reike, D., W.J. Vermeulen and S. Witjes. 2018. ‘The circular economy: new or refurbished as CE 3.0? – exploring controversies in the conceptualization of the circular economy through a focus on history and resource value retention options’. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 135: 246–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.08.027
  33. Roux, D. and D. Guiot. 2020. ‘Second-hand markets: Alternative forms of acquiring, disposing of, and recirculating consumer goods’. In L. Visconti et al. (eds). Marketing Management. London: Routledge. pp. 388–407. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203710807-29
  34. Roux, D. and V. Guillard. 2016. ‘Circulation of objects between strangers in public space: An analysis of forms of sociality among disposers and gleaners’. Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition) 31 (4): 28–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/20515707166641
  35. Roux, D., V. Guillard and V. Blanchet. 2018. ‘Of counter spaces of provisioning: reframing the sidewalk as a parasite heterotopia’. Marketing Theory 18 (2): 218–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/147059311773
  36. Schlosberg, D. 2020. ‘Sustainable materialism and environmental justice’. In B. Coolsaet (ed.) Environmental Justice. London: Routledge. pp. 303–15. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429029585-27
  37. Schlosberg, D. 2019. ‘From postmaterialism to sustainable materialism: the environmental politics of practice-based movements’. Environmental Politics. 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.201 9.1587215
  38. Schlosberg, D. and R. Coles. 2016. ‘The new environmentalism of everyday life: Sustainability, material flows and movements’. Contemporary Political Theory 15: 160–81. https://doi.org/10.1057/cpt.2015.34
  39. Schlosberg, D. and L. Craven. 2019. Sustainable Materialism: Environmental Movements and the Politics of Everyday Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  40. Singapore Government News. 2019. MEWR’s Inaugural Masterplan Charts Singapore’s Path Towards a Zero Waste Nation. 30 August.
  41. Singapore Government News. 2020a. Singapore: Written reply by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, to Parliamentary Question on Local Recycling Landscape. 5 October.
  42. Singapore Government News. 2020b. Remarks by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, at the Virtual Conference On Sustainability by the Singaporean-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce. 12 August.
  43. Singapore Government News. 2021. Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Recycling Bins in Private Condominiums by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment. 26 July.
  44. Singapore Government News. 2022a. Singapore: Oral Reply to Parliamentary Question on Recyling Rate by Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment. 9 November.
  45. Singapore Government News. 2022b. Singapore: Overall Waste Generation and Recycling Rates Increased in 2021 as Economic Activity Picked Up. 18 April.
  46. Tan, R.B. and H.H. Khoo. 2006. ‘Impact assessment of waste management options in Singapore’. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 56 (3): 244–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/10473289.2006.10464463
  47. The Straits Times. 2020. ‘Freegans gather bountiful “harvest” of fruit from roadside offerings during Hungry Ghost Festival’. 15 September.
  48. The Straits Times. 2022. ‘Food rescue projects relying on more donations to cope with increased fuel, transport costs’. 6 August.
  49. The Straits Times. 2023a. ‘Sustainability exhibition Circular Futures: Next Gen shows how waste can be upcycled into luxe design’. 30 January.
  50. The Straits Times. 2023b. ‘All set for Monday when free plastic bags at many supermarkets will be a thing of the past’. 2 July.
  51. The Straits Times. 2023c. ‘Day one of plastic bag charge sees smooth roll-out with shoppers bringing their own bags’. 4 July.
  52. The Straits Times. 2023d. ‘5 cents each: Drop in plastic bag use likely, but people will still bag their rubbish’. 17 July.
  53. The Straits Times. 2023e. ‘7 in 10 shoppers will bring reusable bags when plastic bag charge kicks in on July 3: Survey’. 3 April.
  54. Wieser, H. 2019. ‘Consumption work in the circular and sharing economy: A literature review’. Problems and Perspectives in Management 19 (1): 198–208.
  55. Zero Waste Master Plan. 2019. Zero Waste Master Plan. Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources and National Environment Agency: Singapore, https://www.mse.gov.sg/resources/zero-waste-masterplan.pdf (accessed June 2023).