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Ethics and responsibilisation in agri-food governance: the single-use plastics debate and strategies to introduce reusable coffee cups in UK retail chains

Author

Listed:
  • Damian Maye

    (University of Gloucestershire)

  • James Kirwan

    (University for Sustainable Development Eberswalde)

  • Gianluca Brunori

    (University of Pisa)

Abstract

This paper extends arguments about the potential for reflexive governance in agri-food sustainability by linking food ethics to the notion of ‘unintended consequences’ and ‘responsibilisation’. Analysis of sustainable consumption governance shows the way authorities and intermediaries use food waste reduction projects to ‘responsibilise’ the consumer, including recent examples of shared responsibility. This paper takes this argument further by developing a ‘strategies of responsibilisation’ framework that connects relations between food system outcomes, problematisation in public discourse and strategies of responsibilisation in agri-food governance. A food and drink waste case study of strategies to introduce reusable coffee cups in UK coffee shops and food retail chains is examined to exemplify relations between problematisation and responsibilisation. We examine problematisation and responsibilisation discourses that have emerged in relation to the issue, particularly in relation to single-use plastics, together with emerging governance arrangements and their underlying rationalities. The case study shows two key things: firstly, how ethical questions about food in public discourses connect to wider environmental planetary concerns (in this case packaging in relation to the environment); and secondly, how responsibility has emergent and dynamic properties, which we term ‘cycles of responsibilisation’. The paper concludes by assessing the wider value of applying a responsibility framework to examine governance responses to increasingly complex agri-food system sustainability challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Damian Maye & James Kirwan & Gianluca Brunori, 2019. "Ethics and responsibilisation in agri-food governance: the single-use plastics debate and strategies to introduce reusable coffee cups in UK retail chains," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(2), pages 301-312, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:36:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10460-019-09922-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-019-09922-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. C. Hinrichs, 2014. "Transitions to sustainability: a change in thinking about food systems change?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(1), pages 143-155, March.
    2. Gianluca Brunori & Francesca Galli & Dominique Barjolle & Rudolf Van Broekhuizen & Luca Colombo & Mario Giampietro & James Kirwan & Tim Lang & Erik Mathijs & Damian Maye & Kees De Roest & Carin Rougoo, 2016. "Are Local Food Chains More Sustainable than Global Food Chains? Considerations for Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-27, May.
    3. Michael K Goodman & Damian Maye & Lewis Holloway, 2010. "Ethical Foodscapes?: Premises, Promises, and Possibilities," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(8), pages 1782-1796, August.
    4. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Dubbink, G.W. & Graafland, J.J. & Liederkerke, L., 2008. "CSR: Transparency and the role of intermediate organisations," MPRA Paper 17892, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    Cited by:

    1. Macarena Beltran & Benny Tjahjono & Anna Bogush & Jorge Julião & Evandro L. S. Teixeira, 2021. "Food Plastic Packaging Transition towards Circular Bioeconomy: A Systematic Review of Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-24, April.
    2. Katrin Martens & Jana Zscheischler, 2022. "The Digital Transformation of the Agricultural Value Chain: Discourses on Opportunities, Challenges and Controversial Perspectives on Governance Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Aintzira Oñederra-Aramendi & Mirene Begiristain-Zubillaga & Mamen Cuellar-Padilla, 2023. "Characterisation of food governance for alternative and sustainable food systems: a systematic review," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-32, December.
    4. Delia Ojinnaka & Mame Marie Aw, 2020. "Micro and Nano Plastics- A Consumer Perception Study on the Environment, Food Safety Threat and Control Systems," Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, Biomedical Research Network+, LLC, vol. 31(2), pages 23998-24012, October.

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