From waste to market: Exploring markets, institutions, and innovation ecosystems for waste valorization

This article explores the emergence of waste valorization innovations to investigate how they interact with incumbent waste management systems and what roles markets play in the process. We build upon innovation ecosystems as an analytical framework and investigate empirically three cases distributed across the waste hierarchy pyramid: (i) upcycling of discarded fishing gear; (ii) reusing constructions and recovering demolition waste; and (iii) establishing a biomass-based district heating facility. Our cases indicate that waste valorization initiatives are deeply entangled in incumbent waste management systems and that markets alone appear to be insufficient to drive innovations in waste valorization. Our analysis also points to a relationship between the position of waste innovation in the waste hierarchy and the presence and effectiveness of markets. Markets function better when resources already have some economic value, which is what waste valorization processes seek to obtain. When the environmental value is higher than the economic value, other mechanisms are needed to enable innovations, markets, and sustainability transitions. Support from the public sector in various capacities, from international regulation to demand shaping, seems to be essential for circular economy transitions. Understanding issues such as how waste innovations reach the market and how markets for waste resources function is imperative for circular economy transitions.