Professors Juste Rajaonson and Chedrak Chembessi conducted interviews to explore the social externalities of circular transition. Discover the summary of their work.
Summary
This research explores the social externalities of the transition to the circular economy through the case study of the City of Montreal. While there is growing interest in the indirect and unintended social impacts of the circular economy, their understanding remains relatively fragmentary, especially when analyzed through a territorial prism.
Based on a literature review, we formulated 11 hypotheses, tested in Montreal via 20 semi-structured interviews with actors involved in the public consultations of its circular economy roadmap.
Preliminary results reveal several tensions. Firstly, the impact of circular economy on employment remains uncertain: it transforms professions, creating both risks of casualization for unskilled workers and prospects for improvement conditional on appropriate training. In this respect, the experience of social economy organizations, which place the social before the circular, could inspire a more inclusive approach. Secondly, central activities in a circular economy, such as the processing of residual materials in most business sectors, generate geographically targeted nuisance and resistance. Thirdly, in terms of equity, economic opportunities remain poorly distributed, and the commodification of circular goods can limit access for the most disadvantaged. Finally, without more transversal governance, circular economy risks reproducing the limitations of the dominant model, which obscures its social externalities.
With this study, we reiterate that the appropriation of circular economy as a genuine alternative to the dominant model must be based on planning approaches, policies and practices that do not reproduce the error of ignoring externalities, whether positive or negative. A well-thought-out transition maximizes benefits, even beyond the framework in which it is implemented.
