Conference Dates

June 5-10, 2016

Abstract

We here present a novel method that combines the life cycle approach with qualitative organisational study for environmentally effective waste management. While LCA is useful for producing a systems overview of the environmental performance, it does not provide further guidance on systems management since the actors and activities that uphold them are not systematically studied. The human dimension is particularly manifest in waste management where many types of actors (private, public, consumers, legislators, sector organisations) interact in complex ways.

Our method, with which we study Product Chain Organisation (PCO), is designed to complement LCA. Descriptions and accounts of actors interacting and communicating in the product chain provide a basis for understanding how actions influence overall environmental performance. The method is thoroughly grounded in a socio-material approach well established in the social sciences and the humanities. The socio-material approach considers human organisation to be intimately entangled with material flows, machines, buildings, the environment, etc, and that they all influence each other.

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