Hervé Corvellec
Professor
Sustainability objects as performative definitions of sustainability: The case of food waste-based biogas and biofertilizers
Author
Summary, in English
This article introduces the notion of sustainability objects to label objects that come with a claim to promote a more sustainable mode of living. The purpose is to show that organizations that develop such objects contribute to defining sustainability. A case study of the development of a food waste-based biogas and biofertilizers production facility serves as empirical example of sustainability objects development. The analysis demonstrates that this development has involved situating biogas and biofertilizers socially, entangling them in nets of relations and endowing them with an agency of their own. The study also shows that developing sustainability objects entails constructing performative definitions of sustainability. With sustainability objects embodying local definitions of sustainability, the success or failure of sustainability objects is also the success or failure of these definitions. Asking why sustainability objects gain or lose ground is therefore suggested as a way to understand the state and nature of sustainability transition.
Department/s
- Department of Service Studies
Publishing year
2015
Language
English
Publication/Series
GRI report-Managing the Big City
Volume
2015
Issue
1
Full text
- Available as PDF - 343 kB
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Links
Document type
Working paper
Publisher
Gothenburg Research Institute School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg
Topic
- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Keywords
- Sustainability objects
- Food waste
- Biogas
- Biofertilizers
- Sweden
Status
Published
Project
- From waste management to waste prevention. Closing implementation gaps through sustainable action nets
- From waste management to waste prevention. Closing implementation gaps through sustainable action nets
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1400-4801