Waste as resource in the "age of austerity". Sustainable development and circular economy in local communities. A case study.

Research aim
The main aims of this project are:
to understand the role of waste1 (Thompson 1979) in a community affected by the economic
crisis ("age of austerity", Streeck and Schafer 2013);
to study a community organization in a context of transformation promoted by a process of
re-thinking of waste as community resources.
My research is an ethnographic engagement related to the concepts of "sustainable development",
"circular economy" and "waste studies" (O'Brien 2008). Since 2012, the EU commission has
proposed several legislative amendments about resources and waste management (Gregson
et.al.2015), introducing the idea of "circular economy" (European Commission 2014). This idea
1 I will take into consideration mostly households waste with exception for pulper waste from paper mills' residuals.

refers to an economy premised on keeping resources in circulation for as long as possible and so
aims to eradicate waste. This "long term solution" is defined as "sustainable" development (Miller
2012). In this context, wastes are considered useful materials in order to partially reduce the
European demand for natural resources. To consider wastes as resources is important to think those
as materials (e.g.paper). These materials have monetary value if categorized and sold separately.