IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i10p4252-d361589.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Capturing Waste or Capturing Innovation? Comparing Self-Organising Potentials of Surplus Food Redistribution Initiatives to Prevent Food Waste

Author

Listed:
  • Charlotte A. Spring

    (Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada)

  • Robin Biddulph

    (Department of Economy & Society, University of Gothenburg, 40530 Gothenburg, Sweden)

Abstract

The context for this article is the rapid international growth of (surplus) food redistribution initiatives. These are frequently reliant on networks of volunteer labour, often coordinated by digital means. Movements with these characteristics are increasingly viewed by researchers, policymakers and practitioners as cases of self-organisation. The article explores the nature and extent of self-organisation in food redistribution initiatives. Two contrasting UK initiatives were studied using ethnographic methods during a period of rapid expansion. The concept of self-organisation was operationalised using three dimensions—autonomy, expansion and governance. One initiative established food banks in close cooperation with corporate food actors. Its franchise charity model involved standardised safety protocols and significant centralised control. The other initiative deliberately pursued autonomy, rapid recruitment and de-centralised governance; nevertheless, collaboration with industry actors and a degree of centralised control became a (contested) part of the approach. We highlight the interplay of organisational agency and institutional structures affecting the self-organisation of surplus food redistribution, including ways in which movement dynamism can involve capture by dominant interests but also the seeds of transformative practices that challenge root causes of food waste, particularly food’s commodification. Our analysis provides a way to compare the potentials of food charity vs mutual aid in effecting systemic change.

Suggested Citation

  • Charlotte A. Spring & Robin Biddulph, 2020. "Capturing Waste or Capturing Innovation? Comparing Self-Organising Potentials of Surplus Food Redistribution Initiatives to Prevent Food Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-19, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:10:p:4252-:d:361589
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/10/4252/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/10/4252/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mair, Johanna & Reischauer, Georg, 2017. "Capturing the dynamics of the sharing economy: Institutional research on the plural forms and practices of sharing economy organizations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 11-20.
    2. Smith, Adrian & Raven, Rob, 2012. "What is protective space? Reconsidering niches in transitions to sustainability," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 1025-1036.
    3. Jane L. Midgley, 2014. "The logics of surplus food redistribution," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(12), pages 1872-1892, December.
    4. Philippe Eynaud & Jean-Louis Louis Laville & Luciane dos Santos & Swati Banerjee & Flor Avelino & Lars Hulgård, 2019. "Theory of social enterprise and pluralism: Social Movements, Solidarity Economy, and Global South," Post-Print hal-03252100, HAL.
    5. Oona Morrow, 2019. "Community Self-Organizing and the Urban Food Commons in Berlin and New York," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-17, July.
    6. Sabrina Arcuri, 2019. "Food poverty, food waste and the consensus frame on charitable food redistribution in Italy," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(2), pages 263-275, June.
    7. Mustafa Hasanov & Justin Beaumont, 2016. "The value of collective intentionality for understanding urban self-organization," Urban Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(3), pages 231-249, September.
    8. Rachael Durrant & Jacob Barnes & Florian Kern & Gordon Mackerron, 2018. "The acceleration of transitions to urban sustainability: a case study of Brighton and Hove," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(8), pages 1537-1558, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giaime Berti & Claudia Giordano & Mariavaleria Mininni, 2021. "Assessing the Transformative Potential of Food Banks: The Case Study of Magazzini Sociali (Italy)," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Papargyropoulou, Effie & Fearnyough, Kate & Spring, Charlotte & Antal, Lucy, 2022. "The future of surplus food redistribution in the UK: Reimagining a ‘win-win’ scenario," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    3. Pilar Campoy-Muñoz & Manuel Alejandro Cardenete & María del Carmen Delgado & Ferran Sancho, 2021. "Food Losses and Waste: A Needed Assessment for Future Policies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-11, November.
    4. Bohuslava Mihalčová & Antonín Korauš & Olha Prokopenko & Jozefína Hvastová & Magdaléna Freňáková & Peter Gallo & Beáta Balogová, 2021. "Effective Management Tools for Solving the Problem of Poverty in Relation to Food Waste in Context of Integrated Management of Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-18, July.
    5. Leipold, Sina & Weldner, Kaja & Hohl, Marius, 2021. "Do we need a ‘circular society’? Competing narratives of the circular economy in the French food sector," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    6. Mariarosaria Lombardi & Marco Costantino, 2021. "A Hierarchical Pyramid for Food Waste Based on a Social Innovation Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, April.
    7. Nouman Afzal & Abdul Basit & Adil Daniel & Nausheen Ilyas & Asad Imran & Zoia Arshad Awan & Effie Papargyropoulou & Lindsay C. Stringer & Mohamed Hashem & Saad Alamri & Muhammad Amjad Bashir & Yunzhou, 2022. "Quantifying Food Waste in the Hospitality Sector and Exploring Its Underlying Reasons—A Case Study of Lahore, Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-17, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joshua D. Lohnes, 2021. "Regulating surplus: charity and the legal geographies of food waste enclosure," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(2), pages 351-363, June.
    2. Kelsey D. Meagher & Anne Gillman & David C. Campbell & Edward S. Spang, 2020. "Relational and Logistical Dimensions of Agricultural Food Recovery: Evidence from California Growers and Recovery Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-18, July.
    3. Leipold, Sina & Weldner, Kaja & Hohl, Marius, 2021. "Do we need a ‘circular society’? Competing narratives of the circular economy in the French food sector," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    4. Wittmayer, Julia M. & Avelino, Flor & Pel, Bonno & Campos, Inês, 2021. "Contributing to sustainable and just energy systems? The mainstreaming of renewable energy prosumerism within and across institutional logics," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    5. Giaime Berti & Claudia Giordano & Mariavaleria Mininni, 2021. "Assessing the Transformative Potential of Food Banks: The Case Study of Magazzini Sociali (Italy)," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, March.
    6. Papargyropoulou, Effie & Fearnyough, Kate & Spring, Charlotte & Antal, Lucy, 2022. "The future of surplus food redistribution in the UK: Reimagining a ‘win-win’ scenario," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    7. Dandan Liu & Anmin Huang & Dewei Yang & Jianyi Lin & Jiahui Liu, 2021. "Niche-Driven Socio-Environmental Linkages and Regional Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-17, January.
    8. Yafeng Zou & Qi Wang & Min Deng & Yujie Wang, 2021. "Community Intervention System: COVID-19 Control in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-18, December.
    9. Filippo Oncini, 2021. "Food support provision in COVID-19 times: a mixed method study based in Greater Manchester," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(4), pages 1201-1213, December.
    10. Emmanuelle Reuter, 2022. "Hybrid business models in the sharing economy: The role of business model design for managing the environmental paradox," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 603-618, February.
    11. Ruhrort, Lisa, 2020. "Reassessing the Role of Shared Mobility Services in a Transport Transition: Can They Contribute the Rise of an Alternative Socio-Technical Regime of Mobility?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 12(19), pages 1-1.
    12. Eleftheria Vasileiadou & Boukje Huijben & Rob Raven, 2014. "Crowdfunding niches? Exploring the potential of crowdfunding for financing renewable energy niches in the Netherlands," Working Papers 14-11, Eindhoven Center for Innovation Studies, revised Nov 2014.
    13. Sara A. L. Smaal & Joost Dessein & Barend J. Wind & Elke Rogge, 2021. "Social justice-oriented narratives in European urban food strategies: Bringing forward redistribution, recognition and representation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(3), pages 709-727, September.
    14. Marianne Ryghaug & Michael Ornetzeder & Tomas Moe Skjølsvold & William Throndsen, 2019. "The Role of Experiments and Demonstration Projects in Efforts of Upscaling: An Analysis of Two Projects Attempting to Reconfigure Production and Consumption in Energy and Mobility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-15, October.
    15. Pies, Ingo & Hielscher, Stefan & Everding, Sebastian, 2020. "Do hybrids impede sustainability? How semantic reorientations and governance reforms can produce and preserve sustainability in sharing business models," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 174-185.
    16. Deerfield, Amanda & Elert, Niklas, 2022. "Entrepreneurship and Regulatory Voids: The Case of Ridesharing," Working Paper Series 1426, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    17. Adams, Clare & Frantzeskaki, Niki & Moglia, Magnus, 2023. "Mainstreaming nature-based solutions in cities: A systematic literature review and a proposal for facilitating urban transitions," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    18. Geels, Frank W. & Kern, Florian & Fuchs, Gerhard & Hinderer, Nele & Kungl, Gregor & Mylan, Josephine & Neukirch, Mario & Wassermann, Sandra, 2016. "The enactment of socio-technical transition pathways: A reformulated typology and a comparative multi-level analysis of the German and UK low-carbon electricity transitions (1990–2014)," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 896-913.
    19. David Gibbs & Kirstie O'Neill, 2014. "Rethinking Sociotechnical Transitions and Green Entrepreneurship: The Potential for Transformative Change in the Green Building Sector," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(5), pages 1088-1107, May.
    20. Suyash Jolly & Rob Raven, 2013. "Collective institutional entrepreneurship and contestations in wind energy in India," Working Papers 13-10, Eindhoven Center for Innovation Studies, revised Nov 2013.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:10:p:4252-:d:361589. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.