Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The global transition toward a circular economy relies on transforming consumption patterns into sustainable habits. These efforts are increasingly enacted through changes in local systems that shape everyday practices. While the deposit-refund system (DRS) is promoted as an effective tool, particularly due to its financial incentive, it emphasizes an individual-centred approach to drive social change rather than accounting for the routines into which such a system is integrated. In line with this, previous research has mainly focused on effectiveness, consumer attitudes, values and participation drivers, overlooking the habits that organize daily life. Therefore, there is a need to understand how change reconfigures everyday practices during transitional periods.

This thesis addresses this gap by examining the case of the ongoing modernization of the deposit-refund system in Laval, Québec, where a deposit amount increase, new infrastructures and technologies and the expansion of eligible containers are being introduced in an established system due to stagnating return rates. This study aims to explore how changes to the deposit-refund system in Laval are negotiated and integrated into practices and how these changes are interpreted and made sense of by residents in their everyday lives.

Change is analyzed in this thesis using Social Practice Theory, focusing on materials, competences and meanings as the interconnected elements that constitute a practice, complemented by Symbolic Interactionism to examine how meanings and identities are constructed and negotiated during social interactions. Using a qualitative case study approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 14 residents of Laval and supported by limited observations at return sites and in domestic settings.

The findings show that participation in the deposit-refund system is shaped by how materials, competences and meanings are reconfigured as practitioners engage with the system. This process highlights the interdependence of these components and how they are inseparable within the practice as they constitute one another. Notably, new return infrastructures and technologies altered the physical performance of the practice, redistributed time and effort, and modified spatial organization in homes as well as access to return sites. Competences were developed through learning by doing and knowledge sharing in interactions, and meanings around environmental responsibility and modernization were negotiated as participants engaged with the practice. Furthermore, residents developed their sense of self through social expectations. Although interviewees often framed their involvement as a matter of individual responsibility, the study demonstrates that participation depends on how new and existing practice elements are linked rather than on personal attitudes and behaviours alone.

Therefore, this study suggests understanding change and sustainability transitions as processes of reconfiguring practices. For policymakers and communication professionals, this highlights the importance of considering how materials, competences and meanings are jointly shaped in everyday life, rather than simply attempting to influence individual choices.