Form Submission: Participation Entry

Over the past decade or so, the topic of food waste reduction has captured the attention of Big Green organizations, mobilized millions of philanthropic dollars, loomed large in food policy debates, and played a central role in the sustainability efforts of agrifood corporations. The apparently universal benefits that come from reducing food waste — environmental, social, economic — have rendered the solutions to this ostensible problem of food waste “win-win-win,” in that they benefit multiple stakeholders and achieve diverse goals. This most recent iteration of food waste’s popularity offers a compelling boundary object worth further examination. Rather than take for granted the status of food waste as a “problem,” my research investigates how food waste is articulated as a problem, by whom, for whom, and to what ends. This thesis analyzes the underlying political implications of food waste through discursive, network, and political ecology analysis of the "food waste movement."