This landmark first anthropological open access volume on the topic of ‘circular economies’ brings together a range of international scholars with regional specialisations in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America to examine the concept's global implications.

Aspirations towards a circular economy have become increasingly prominent around the world, yet until now, social anthropology has largely neglected the potentially deep social impacts of this concept, despite its obvious implications through every level of the economy and society.

This volume covers a diverse array of international actors, including waste-pickers, traders and policymakers, and the global movement of materials like metals, plastic and textiles. Through ethnographic and qualitative case studies, it exposes many of the tensions that exist between state and corporate ideals of the circular economy, and the vernacular practices and philosophies that exist around the world. Contributors examine the frictions that emerge as these concepts and materials travel across different geographic contexts, and ask – what can an anthropological analysis contribute to a concept that is increasingly reshaping economies and restructuring global flows of virgin commodities, recyclables, and waste?

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by UKRI.

A must-read for those interested in the circular economy. This edited collection puts people front and centre, raises awareness of issues of inclusivity, and shows the impact circular solutions can have, even with the best intentions. While the CE agenda is important, we are left reminded that there needs to be a more sensitive and modest approach. * Alison Stowell, Lancaster University, UK *
An excellent ‘call-out’ of the social justice challenges and opportunities we face as we seek to deploy our global circular economy ambitions. Beyond the theory there are real lives, real communities yet real chances to shape the emerging circular economy to not only tackle the stress on the natural system our over consumption behaviour brings but to create a more equal and prosper life for all. * Iain Gulland, Chief Executive, Zero Waste Scotland *
A fascinating journey into the world of the circular economy through an exploration of waste chains in the Global South. Mobilising original anthropological approaches, this edited volume sheds light on ignored but essential practices and actors in our economic systems. Unpacking policy impacts, social inequalities and innovations from below, this book is a must-read on the global circular economy. * Armelle Choplin, University of Geneva, Switzerland *
[This] is a timely volume that offers a lot of important ethnographic data for a relatively contemporary and under-examined area but lacks the theoretical engagement some readers might be looking for. * Economic Record *

Patrick O’Hare is a UKRI Future Leader Fellow and Senior Researcher in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews, UK. His research focuses on waste, recycling, plastics and labour. He is the author of Rubbish Belongs to the Poor: Hygienic Enclosure and the Waste Commons (2022).

Dagna Rams is a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics, UK, where she is sponsored by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Her research has focused on global waste-to-resource trade between Ghana and the world and more recently on discourses and practices of sustainability in global metal markets. She studies how capitalism and technological innovation relate to resource extraction.