Redefining Production and Consumption in Producer Cooperatives Through Sustainability, Eco-innovation, and Circularity

It is well-attested that reaching environmental sustainability is now an objective for governments, citizens, and firms. To reach set sustainability, it tests firms’ ability to eco-innovate (EI) or innovate in processes to achieve environmental sustainability. The application of circular economy (CE) or the process where energy and resources are reintegrated into the production loop, against a linear model, is understood as a form of EI that necessitates a revised understanding of production and consumption. In cooperatives, as a firm model already encapsulating democratic and community values with particular attention to social needs, it is necessary to identify particularly the role that producer cooperatives have in achieving environmental sustainability and innovation to achieve this objective. These types of cooperatives are considered differently since their workers are not merely intermediaries between product and service provider, rather become “entrepreneurs of themselves” and can reconsolidate the wrong assumption that cooperatives cannot make a profit and remain “anti-capitalistic”. Considering their structure, this chapter looks to revisit the discourse of production and consumption given the growing literature and interest in CE. Thus, investigating how producer cooperatives can implement effective forms of EI and CE strategies, while holding the same identity and values as other cooperatives.