Resisting the circular economy: a case study of waste governance in Northern Australia

Abstract

The management of commercial and domestic waste is an environmental priority. In recent years, circular economy (CE) perspectives have emerged, underpinned by an expectation of monetising waste to incentivise the recovery and reuse of valuable materials. Accordingly, a role for accountants is anticipated to support effective waste and resource management strategies. Yet it remains unclear how the transition to a CE can be realised in practice, particularly for populations located outside of urban centres. This study examines the challenges of waste governance in remote Australia and the role of public sector accounting and accountability practices in the CE transition. The authors conducted the fieldwork for this study with a municipal council in Northern Australia to evaluate their waste management practices. The five sites – two landlocked communities, two islands and one coastal community – experience low population density, logistical challenges and financial constraints due to their remote location. The authors draw on Foucauldian concepts of power, governmentality and resistance to analyse the case and its implications for waste policy, accounting and accountability. This study reveals that in remote regions, the lack of accounting technologies for waste measurement, reporting and costing severely limits accountability and progress toward CE goals. The findings challenge assumptions about the universal applicability of CE models and call for the development of accounting practices that are both contextually grounded and socially responsive. In doing so, the paper emphasises the need for new calculative tools and public accountability mechanisms that reflect the complex realities of waste governance beyond urban centres. Effective waste management in remote contexts requires calculative infrastructure (weighbridges, systematic reporting) to enable governance. Management control systems are needed to make visible the full environmental and social costs currently externalised to remote communities. Focus should also shift from resource recovery to reducing waste creation through producer responsibility schemes that allocate costs to manufacturers and retailers. This study examines CE implementation in remote Australia, a novel setting for CE research. The authors demonstrate how geographic isolation, limited infrastructure and absent markets expose CE as an “empty signifier” where material conditions resist policy translation. Examining waste governance through a municipal lens, they reveal how the absence of accounting technologies fundamentally limits governance and how informal accountability practices emerge where formal systems are inadequate.