Discarding well? justice and collective care in two grassroots waste initiatives in the UK

Body

Grassroots initiatives (GIs) offer transformative approaches to “discarding well” amid growing global waste crises and the limits of mainstream waste management. Drawing on Discard Studies, two UK case studies - a Glasgow reuse and upcycling hub and a Norwich menstrual equity project - show how GIs cultivate care-centred, justice-oriented relationships with waste. Their practices vary across materials and power dynamics, revealing both the radical potential of GIs to reshape waste systems and the persistent need for wider structural interventions to address inequity and unaccounted material afterlives.

Full citation

Acheson, Cat. 'Discarding well? justice and collective care in two grassroots waste initiatives in the UK'. Geoforum 167:104440 (26 October 2025). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2025.104440