Semiotic Notes on Reuse, Between Reduction and Recycling

Abstract

This article develops a semiotic framework for analyzing the waste management triad of reduce, reuse, and recycle, with particular emphasis on reuse as an intermediate position between non-production and material dissolution. Building on Jacques Fontanille’s hierarchy of expressive levels and Umberto Eco’s characterization of objects as tools of use, the framework defines objects through sign functions relating expressive types (material, perceptual traits) to content types (use traits). Two formal indices are introduced: the Tampering Index (I_t), measuring the degree to which expressive traits are eliminated in reuse, and the Bricolage Index (I_b), quantifying the ratio of pre-existing to total parts in an object’s mereological structure. The article demonstrates these indices through worked examples (electric wire reused as rope, bicycle repair) and then extends the analysis to semantic relations (hypernymy/hyponymy), mereological formalization (recursive grammar O_s → kO_s), repair practices, and temporal dimensions (memory, patina). The framework positions reuse on a continuum between temporary alternative use and recycling, operationalizing Claude Lévi-Strauss’s concept of bricolage while revealing how objects maintain a double status as materially persistent yet functionally transformed.