‘On its arse!’ – interrogating the state of the UK’s plastic packaging recycling market
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23311367 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Torik Holmes (0000-0003-4346-1272, University of Manchester, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-17 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Cultural Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1753-0350 • E-ISSN: 1753-0369 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17530350.2026.2648712 |
| OpenAlex | W7170175669 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 53 |
The UK’s plastic packaging recycling market is on its arse. This begs the question: why? I address this question through in-depth case study research. My critique involves an original drawing together and combination of complementary writing in Market Studies and Discard Studies, and the articulation of ‘scales of market practice’ as an explicit means of conceptually apprehending and interrogating the state of the market. The work undertaken contributes more broadly to the debate on the theoretical deficits of the circular economy (CE), providing a theoretically consistent and novel means of accounting for the scalar politics of material flows and the related materialisation of barriers to circularity. I conclude with a critical reflection on the implications of this paper for the CE. Mobilising the empirical case, I specifically highlight a troubling scalar mismatch between the dominant idea that plastic packaging circularity is achievable via standardisation and the multiple intricacies of market practices, as well as the divergent material pathways they help to produce. I argue that the multiplicity at the heart of my account relegates notions of neat and tidy circles of resource use to a fallacy of market mastery that does not exist, which is important to acknowledge.
Packaging industry · Plastic packaging · State (computer science) · Food Waste Reduction and Sustainability · Microplastics and Plastic Pollution · Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Discard Studies
Multiple versions of markets
Breaking circular economy barriers
On the nature of markets and their practices
Towards a consensus on the circular economy
The Circular Economy – A new sustainability paradigm?
Discipline and Punish
Uneven Development
Market Studies
Remaking Scale
Critiques of the circular economy
Detaching from plastic packaging
Towards a circular economy of plastic
Rethinking scale as a geographical category
The social construction of scale
The politics of scale through Rancière
The Sociological Imagination
Governance of the circular economy
Re-Turn to Practice
Zooming In and Out
England's municipal waste regime
The Performativity of Food Packaging
After Practice? Material Semiotic Approaches to Consumption and Economy
Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation
Domestic 'Disposal Work' and Plastics Recycling - Unwrapping Everyday Entanglements of Practice, Roles, and Responsibilities
Toward an anthropology of plastics
Redefining pollution and action
Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research
The Politics of Bottled Water
Models in the circular economy
Thinking with waste to know the economic
Inputs, outputs and churn
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |