Participating and Labouring in Circular Transitions: The Case of Community Food Rescue/Redistribution Initiatives in Singapore

Qian Hui Tan () and Brenda Saw Ai Yeoh
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Qian Hui Tan: Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent #07-01 AS8, Singapore 119260, Singapore
Brenda Saw Ai Yeoh: Asia Research Institute and the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent #07-01 AS8, Singapore 119260, Singapore

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-13

Abstract: With some exceptions, the nexus between diverse ecologies of participation and unwaged labour in circular transitions has not been fully investigated. Additionally, while research on labour and the circular economy has begun to acknowledge the informal unpaid work that is indispensable to closing circularity loops in the household and community, its relational aspects are still discounted in the literature. We seek to address these gaps through our case study on emerging community food rescue/redistribution initiatives in Singapore. Increasingly, these initiatives are gaining success in garnering volunteer labour involving care/relational work through their diverse models of engagement, which cater to a range of preferences. We offer a perspective suggesting that volunteers are often able to find rich regimes of value in the work that they do despite being unpaid. Future research can perhaps explore the ethics of exploiting one’s care for the environment and community in order to extract this unwaged labour.

Keywords: circular transition; labour; food rescue; ecologies of participation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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