With the circular economy, waste is no longer just a problem, but becomes a resource to be valued. Good news? Not necessarily: this linguistic shift makes waste disappear and, above all, gives sorting a moral value, placing its responsibility solely on individuals, while recycling is also the business of manufacturers. Above all, it sidesteps the real issue: the overproduction of waste.

One morning like any other, you open your trash can and stop dead in your tracks. In your hand, a piece of plastic wrap. Just yesterday, it would have landed without a second thought at the bottom of the black bag. Today, you hesitate. Where to put it? What is its place in this new sorting system? And above all, is it really waste?

Behind this hesitation lies a silent revolution: that of words. Because before physically disappearing, waste must first disappear from language.

Calling a material a “resource” rather than “waste” is not trivial: this redefinition shapes our public policies and transforms our daily actions. This idea came to me over the course of my research.

As part of the Zero Waste Family Challenge led by the EPA, experts followed households committed to reducing their waste. Far from being a simple matter of weighing trash cans, this challenge revealed a surprising phenomenon: as their vocabulary evolved, their relationship with objects changed. Suddenly, throwing things away became a failure, composting a source of pride, and owning a trash can… almost a moral failing.

While environmental policies emphasize concrete action, recycling, reducing, reusing, the thesis highlighted another lever for transformation, less visible but equally powerful: language. Because before any physical intervention, it is words that initiate the disappearance of waste. Hence the importance of paying particular attention to them.

Throw away, sort, or recycle? Redefining the gesture through language

For a long time, throwing away was an automatic gesture, devoid of thought. A Pavlovian reflex, punctuated by a “Come on, trash!” But today, this gesture is laden with a new weight: that of ecological responsibility.

A participant in the challenge, testifies: throw nothing away, throw nothing away, especially throw nothing away… Since I started this zero waste challenge, I think a lot about the weight of my trash. So, when something heavy, a lamp for example, seems to be at the end of its life, it’s agonizing.

Far from being a neutral act, throwing away has become an action that requires justification. The vocabulary of sorting has taken hold, creating new standards. Once synonymous with waste, our trash cans have been transformed into recycling bins, eco-points, and other recycling stations. The simple act of renaming the act of throwing away as “sorting” changes our perception of it: what was once an act of rejection becomes an act of contribution, part of the rhetoric of “small gestures” for the environment.

But while this linguistic shift accompanies a change in practices, it also carries a paradox. While we talk more than ever about the circular economy and waste reduction, the overall production of waste, particularly plastic, continues to increase. Are words enough to transform reality?

From trash can to symbol, a marker of ecological virtue

What is striking in the testimonies of the participants in this zero waste challenge is not only their commitment, but the new status they give to the trash can itself.
Another participant says: I didn’t waste much before the challenge, but now… I don’t even have a trash can anymore, actually. The challenge has definitely vaccinated me. We’ve halved or even thirded our consumption.

Saying that we no longer have a trash can isn’t just about describing a change in habits. It’s about affirming a break with a consumption model based on elimination. The trash can is no longer just a container; it has become a symbol: that of a wasteful system that must be overcome.

In other words, it’s no longer just waste that is being called into question, but the very existence of all the systems that support it. It then becomes more positive to talk about sorting bins or composters, while the trash can is relegated to the status of a relic of a bygone era.

In this context, the challenge’s slogan, the trash can is not inevitable, takes on its full meaning. By questioning the very existence of this container, the goal is to promote an imaginary world in which waste is no longer perceived as residue to be eliminated, but rather is fully reintegrated into cycles of reuse and recovery. Having become a resource, it disappears.

The Myth of Disappearance: When Words Mask Production

This raises the question: can we really make waste disappear by changing the words?

The numbers call us to task. In 2024, Florida still produced 110 million tons of waste per year, including 14 million tons of household waste. Despite the growing discourse on the circular economy, the trend is not reversing.

Language is not neutral. It is imbued with power and prejudice, and it serves to maintain and reproduce systems of oppression.

Applied to waste, this observation raises a risk: that of seeing the vocabulary of recycling become a smokescreen. Talking about material recovery rather than waste management is not enough to curb overproduction. If we do not question the materiality underlying these words, we, researchers, waste professionals, and citizens—risk becoming unwitting accomplices in a system that, under the guise of ecological virtues, continues to accumulate.

Recycle words, but not reality

The words of recycling shape our actions, guide our policies, and redefine what we consider waste. But they must not become a reassuring illusion that would make us forget the essential: the only true disappearance of waste requires challenging our modes of production and consumption.

Transforming discourse is a first step. This should not exempt us from acting on the material itself. Because, by trying too hard to make waste disappear from language, we risk forgetting that it continues, materially, to accumulate. This will help the well being of the communities of Florida!