Do we need a ‘circular society’? Competing narratives of the circular economy in the French food sector

Abstract

How a circular economy (CE) can promote social equity remains largely unknown. We analyze how CE narratives affect interpretations of problems and actions on waste in the French food sector, particularly around the Loi Garot. We identify CE narratives that challenge the sector's previous discourse of a social and solidarity economy (SSE) by advancing market-focused solutions and actors. We show how these narratives create solutions that do not automatically serve social goals and demand food waste instead of mitigating it. Our results suggest that the new CE narratives may either open sector debates to more viable solutions for limited access to food or exacerbate the social and environmental problems of food waste. If we want CE policies and initiatives to address pressing issues of distributive justice and equality of opportunity that often underpin wastefulness, CE narratives need to foreground these issues. A possible way to do so could be to develope narratives for a ‘circular society’ instead of a ‘circular economy’. We suggest future research to explore options for such new narratives, emphasizing problems of social equity and offering visions for a ‘circular society’.