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Skills in the green economy: recycling promises in the UK e-waste management sector
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-12, 06:40 authored by Odul BozkurtOdul Bozkurt, Alison StowellIn advanced economies the ‘greening’ of the economy is widely seen as promising extensive job creation and upskilling, alongside its other benefits. In popular and policy rhetoric, the growing importance of ‘green skills’ is asserted frequently. This paper critically examines these claims within the context of the electronic waste management sector in the UK. Drawing on the cases of a non profit organisation and a small private enterprise in North West England, we observe that despite government support for developing skills in e-waste, both the development and utilisation of skills remain minimal. Critically, the relatively more skill-intensive process of reuse is substantially less profitable than recycling and resource capture. The paper concludes by noting that the expectations from the green economy for high quality jobs need to be assessed within the context of similar, misplaced celebrations of previous transformations of work in order to avoid recycling the same promises.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
New Technology, Work and EmploymentISSN
0268-1072Publisher
WileyExternal DOI
Issue
2Volume
31Page range
146-160Department affiliated with
- Business and Management Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes