Contesting power, trust and legitimacy in the South African e-waste transition

Abstract

Socio-technical transition theory is increasingly being used in research and practice to explain and guide transitions toward sustainability. Although recognizing the coevolution of technology and society, multi-scalar influences, and complex social processes, transition theory has thus far inadequately accounted for the role of power and in shaping transitions. This study uses the example of the transition-in-progress toward more sustainable e-waste practices in South Africa as one illustration of how power shapes the successes, failures, and direction of transitions. I look specifically at three transition arenas that are competing for legitimacy to guide the South African e-waste transition and show how their history, membership, and rules of participation shape the different pathways promoted by these organizations. In the South African case, vested interests and constraints on participation resulted in the splintering of original transition arena. While socio-technical transition theory suggests the importance of different competing niche experiments, in this case, different pathways are being promoted by different coalitions of actors through different arenas. The presence of multiple arenas and pathways has divided resources, created confusion, and arguably delayed the transition. Further, the scope for participation in these organizations differs, and this has implications for the redistribution of power. I suggest the need to more carefully consider the role of power, trust, and legitimacy within socio-technical transition theory and specifically within the transition arena. Importantly, analyzing the transition arena as a site of contestation over the distribution of costs and benefits of the particular pathway will enhance socio-technical transition theory's explanatory power regarding how and why particular outcomes emerge.

Provincializing Urban Political Ecology: Towards a Situated UPE Through African Urbanism

“…Lawhon (; ) also frames power as diffuse and relational in her study of the establishment of new systems of e‐waste management in South Africa. Two associations, both largely dominated by industry, sought to establish separate management systems which will have different outcomes for individual stakeholders, particularly small businesses and the informal sector.…”

From Waste to Resource: The Trade in Wastes and Global Recycling Economies

“…They show that these flows are based on highly brokered forms of governance, grounded largely in trust relations -hence the importance of ethnic and familial trader networks -which in turn connect with the practices of valuing heterogeneous materials, through sorting, separation and segregation. Further confirmation of the importance of trust relations comes from research on e-waste [159] with an emergent strand of work focusing on interventions which use labels and standards to guarantee ethical recycling [159,160].…”

Sustainability Transitions in the Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems of Bolivian Cities: Evidence from La Paz and Santa Cruz de la Sierra

“…In developing countries the focus has been on the strategic management of emerging niches (e.g., plastics recycling) [37], or waste-to-energy projects [38,39]. Other studies have focused on the role of specific actors (e.g., religious communities, international donors) in fostering sustainability transitions in the sector [40,41], or how power and trust can permeate the dynamics and direction of sustainability transitions in different MSWM streams (e.g., e-waste) [42,43].…”