The Three Stages of Recycling Consumption Work

Abstract

This chapter explores how recycling consumption work is practically accomplished by consumers in both our comparator countries, England and Sweden, drawing attention to what the work actually comprises and the implications of its successful accomplishment for the labour processes that follow. As already highlighted in chapters 3 and 4, we distinguish three distinct stages of work that consumers perform when preparing their household waste for recycling: first, waste has to be sorted into different categories (e.g. plastic, paper, glass, food, metal) and cleaned or readied for its onward journey; second, the different kinds of waste have to be collected together and stored in appropriate containers; and finally, consumers must leave their recycling outside their house or transport it to a bring-station/collection centre. This work varies according to the type of collection system in operation, as too does the propensity to carry out this work amongst household members, sometimes on the basis of gender and age. In terms of the socio-economic formations of labour (SEFL), these three tasks — supply, warehouse, distribution — can be considered the ‘technical division of labour’, whose performance is shaped by and influences both modal and processual divisions of labour.