Valuing Waste or Wasting Value: Tensions in Justifications of Worth in Circular Innovation Ecosystem Around Waste Valorization

Abstract

This article explores how diverse actors establish and justify the value of waste in the early stages of circular innovation ecosystems around waste valorization. Using the “economies of worth” framework and through a longitudinal study of a French circular ecosystem around valorizing human excreta, we identify three phases of ecosystem emergence: ideation, experimentation, and reconfiguration. In these phases, the tensions stemming from mobilizing multiple orders of worth initially fostered collaboration but later led to conflicts that fragmented the ecosystem and led to new alignments. Our findings contribute to the understanding and management of tensions in circular innovation ecosystems and the social and moral dimensions of waste valorization. We also extend the economies of worth literature by highlighting the dynamics of conflicting orders of worth in ecosystem emergence.