Reuse is the process of passing objects from one user to another. In extending the life of products and reducing demand for raw materials, reuse is an essential and important feature of a more circular economy. At the same time, reuse often operates outside of mainstream economic settings and is regularly depicted as an act of political consumption. In this paper we contribute to the latter understanding of reuse by exploring the practices which support reuse as a process within organisations. Reuse is not a seamless process: sometimes objects do not move directly from one user to another, instead they are moved and stored by intermediaries engaged in “stewardship of things” (Lane & Watson, 2012). Through our ethnographic study of a university reuse project we discovered that, in addition to the care, storage and movement of objects, many of the practices which support a stewardship of things also sanitises the reuse process (e.g. the celebrated use of voluntary labour), potentially distracting from more radical acts to reduce resource use within the organisation.

There will be a light lunch available for participants from 12:00-13:00 in the breakout area outside Management School lecture theatres 2 & 3. 

Booking closes Thu 3 Nov. Please contact pentlandcentre@lancaster.ac.uk for queries re booking after that date.

Dr Katherine Ellsworth-Krebs is a Senior Research Associate in Sustainability at Lancaster University and she was previously a Lecturer in Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews. She is an interdisciplinary social scientist at the intersection of environmental sustainability, energy demand, design, and lifestyle change. She is best known for her research on how ‘normal’ expectations of home are becoming increasingly energy demanding. Her research has been published in Nature and covered by CNN, Forbes and the Fast Company. Currently, her work centres around collaborating with businesses to pilot and expand reusable packaging systems.

Dr Lucy Wishart is a lecturer in the School of Management at the University of St Andrews. Her research explores how relationships between knowledge and practice determine the management of waste in sustainable futures. Currently she is focused on understanding reuse as part of a systemic transition towards a more circular economy; exploring how organisational practices support and/or undermine reuse within society, both materially (e.g. infrastructure) and symbolically (e.g. stigma). Lucy is an interdisciplinary social scientist who has advisory experience working with private enterprise, NGOs and government on sustainability and the circular economy. 

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Health & Safety and access information

• In order to safeguard everyone's health, if you test positive for Covid-19 before the event, or are feeling unwell in any way, please don't attend (and please let us know).
• You are encouraged to wear face coverings during the event, unless eating and drinking.
• Please maintain good hand hygiene, washing your hands regularly/before eating or drinking, and making use of hand sanitiser.
• The lecture theatre is wheelchair accessible and has an induction loop.