Wasting less during the recession
After years of relentless growth, councils across the country are reporting dramatic falls in the amount of waste they are collecting. Early indications suggest this could be in the order of ten per cent, coming after past annual increases of about two to three per cent.
Waste prevention is the ultimate goal of sustainable waste management. By reducing the amount of waste we create, fewer natural resources are used, greenhouse gases associated with production and disposal are avoided and the need for incineration and landfill is diminished.
So any sort of waste reduction is, in itself, great news for the environment. But, do the statistics herald a sea-change in the amount of waste our society produces?
Well, as things stand, probably not. The fall in waste has coincided with a major economic downturn when people are thinking twice about discarding things they can potentially eke a bit more use out of. The challenge we face is to ensure this behaviour is maintained when the economy recovers.
Firstly we need to find out what people have stopped throwing away. Reports suggest that much of the fall is due to fewer white goods, such as fridges and washing machines, being chucked out as people forego expensive upgrades. Construction waste has also declined as fewer people take on building projects. But, for a clearer picture what we really need is reliable, real-time data showing us where the changes in the waste stream are, allowing us to mould future strategy accordingly.
Secondly, we need to know what the fall-off in waste generation says about the motivations and values of the public in general. We need to understand precisely what items people can easily do without and how we can use this to inform future waste prevention campaigns.
Government can also ensure recent gains are not just fleeting. With waste down and collection costs falling, legislation could be loosened to allow local authorities more freedom to introduce variable charging. The shift away from landfill could also be hastened by ramping up landfill tax yet further.
We need to seize the opportunity to build a culture of reuse and repair in this country, for example by reducing VAT on repair services or on new white goods that are easier to repair. This would encourage manufacturers to design more sustainable products, be popular with consumers, and send out the right environmental message.
There are equally important lessons to learn about how we talk to people about waste. The downturn shows that when people want to make major lifestyle changes, they can, and quickly. Saving money becomes a key consideration when it comes to our purchasing decisions, so we need to explain the financial benefits of wasting less and encourage people to cut their waste first, before talking to them about recycling and disposal.
On a more sobering note, this recession has revealed that the direction of travel of our economy may be fundamentally flawed. Historically it seems the only time we reduce our waste, and therefore our environmental impact, is when things go wrong!
Today, some commentators are talking up frugality as the new chic, and using fashion and fad to raise awareness of waste issues is certainly a great start. But, by definition, this is a short term approach. Ultimately, a level of consciousness around using resources more effectively needs to be built into everything we do. This may sound daunting, but it has been achieved over the years with other now ubiquitous principles, such as health and safety and child protection.
We need to adopt the same approach with waste, so that wastefulness is considered unacceptable and not the norm. It's time to bank the savings, and the lessons, from this recession and take them forward so we don't casually slip back into our old wasteful habits.
