A transition in the Dutch wastewater system? : The struggle between discourses and with lock-ins

Recently, calls have increased for a paradigm shift or transition towards resource recovery and a circular economy in the Dutch wastewater system. However, we have observed diverging interpretations on the nature of the transition. This reflects the political environment of sustainability transitions: political struggle emerges over the definition of problems, futures and strategies to be used. In order to help clarify the emerging debate and identify political choices, we conducted a discourse analysis. We identified three discourses that reveal some of the political choices to be made. One discourse is becoming dominant and focusses on optimising the large-scale infrastructure, market development and legislative changes. The discourse draws on the existing infrastructure and current political-economic institutions, which gives it an advantage in becoming dominant. Our findings also suggest that this discourse shapes a transition pathway that is characterised by lock-in effects and, at most, incremental changes instead of a fundamental shift in the established Dutch wastewater system

Whose circular repair economy counts? Four competing discourses of electronics repair

Policies intended to promote circular economies have recently gained momentum, but the potential of repair, as a key circular strategy, remains untapped. To explain this issue, repair scholars have focussed on three factors: overcoming barriers, developing better policies and identifying user acceptance. However, this paper argues that these approaches may downplay the tensions and choices involved in repair and, consequently, limit the systemic and transformative thinking required for a shift to repair. It therefore illuminates these choices through an empirical analysis of the discourses of electronics repair in Flanders. Four competing discourses are identified, highlighting the difficult, political choices that need to be made. Two discourses of powerful actors, promoting narrow modes of repair, are gaining influence and reproduce specific, established producer-consumer and labour relations. If repair scholars, policymakers and practitioners neglect such political choices, their analyses may embed and incite impoverished modes of repair. To facilitate systemic and transformative thinking, they need to reflect on these choices by asking difficult questions about barriers, policies and user acceptance for whom, for what repair discourse and for what kind of circular repair economy

The politics of a transition towards a circular economy in the Dutch wastewater system

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A paradigm shift in the wastewater system: discourse analysis and political interpretation

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