The Agency of Food Waste

This thesis examines the agency of food waste in the context of food waste management in South Australia, Australia. Approaches to food waste management have long framed food waste as inert matter to be acted upon, where human intent and action determine how food waste is understood and managed. By only considering human agency, the objects of food waste as a source of agency are ignored. Guided by qualitative methodology the central argument of the thesis is that food waste, as an object, has agency. By following consumers’ relation with food from purchase to disposal, the thesis shows that there are various smaller agencies at work before food waste enters the space of landfill. Coupling the cradle-to-cradle idea of ‘waste equals food’ with idea of the household as a leviathan body, this thesis suggests we need a form of posthuman digestion as an approach to food waste management.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of South Australia

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Coventry, Timothy

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Jaworski, Katrina

• Food Waste
• Agency
• Posthuman

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2440/151107

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.library.adelaide.edu.au:2440/151107