For about twenty years, food circularities have been valued by public authorities and the scientific community for their multifunctional role, both in terms of food resources and economic, social and environmental impact. Their geographical concentration around food waste deposits creates complex issues for the territories concerned. Whether planned by political decision makers or resulting from spontaneous dynamics, these collective organizations transform marginal spaces into places for the transmission of knowledge. Food circularities consider their impacts and their change of scale as iterative processes, shaped by relational dynamics. This thesis aims to analyze the mechanisms and issues related to the circulation of food waste by exploring the hypothesis of the food upcycling development in these territories.

A food circularity id fefined as a set of actors structured around the recovery of food resources initially intended for disposal. The challenge of this research work is twofold: on the one hand, it is about increase the value of these resources by reintegrating them into exchange circuits, and on the other hand, questioning the systematization of this practice within food production systems. Circularity thus carries collective dynamics of appropriation and logics of visibility. Examining their effects and their change of scale makes it possible to question both the contributions they perceive and their relationships to the territory, as well as the acceptance of innovation.

Based on a comparative qualitative analysis of three food circularity initiatives located in Saint-Herblain, Angers and Brain-sur-Allonnes, this thesis highlights how these forms of food upcycling are structured, function and generate social and economic impacts in these territories.