GOOD LIVING
(continued
From Overconsumption To Sustainable Community ---con't
MATERIALS
To achieve true sustainability, we must reduce our "garbage index"---that which we throw away into the environment that will not be naturally recycled for use --- to near zero. Productive activities must be organized as closed systems. Minerals and other nonbiodegradable resources, once taken from the ground, must become a part of society's permanent capital stock and be recycled in perpetuity. Organic materials may be disposed into the natural ecosystems, but only in ways that assure that they are absorbed back into the natural production system.
Individual consumers are regularly urged to sort and recycle discards ---an important but insufficient measure. Many of the most important decisions are out of our hands, and much of the garbage related to our individual consumption is created and discarded long before any product reaches us. The market rarely offers us a choice of a daily newspaper printed on recycled paper using nontoxic, biodegradable ink. Nor can we ensure that the dutifully bundled newspapers we place at curbside for recycling will indeed be recycled. Such decisions lie in the hands of publishers, paper manufacturers, politicians, and government bureaucrats.
Over a twenty-year period, assuming current levels of recycling, the typical American household "consumes" the equivalent of roughly 100 trees in the form of newsprint. Sixty to 65 percent of that newsprint is devoted to advertisements. Even though we may never read and have no interest in the ads, we are not given the option of subscribing to a paper without them.
According to the Worldwatch Institute, "most materials used today are discarded after one use --- roughly two-thirds of all aluminum, three-fourths of all steel and paper, and an even higher share of plastic. " The physical environment is disrupted to to extract the materials involved, vast amounts of garbage are generated, we work extra hours to earn the money to keep replacing what is discarded, and we become beasts of burden endlessly toting replacements from the store to our homes and then out to the garbage. This may be good for the economy, corporate profits, and executive salaries ; but it degrades the quality of our living.
Recycling not only reduces the environmental costs of resource extraction, it saves energy as well. Producing steel from scrap requires only a third as much energy as producing it from ore, reduces air pollution by 85 percent, reduces water pollution by 76 percent, and eliminates mining wastes. Making newsprint from recycled paper takes 25 to 60 percent less energy than producing it from virgin wood pulp, while reducing the release of air pollution by 74 percent and water pollutants by 35 percent. Reuse produces even more dramatic gains. Recycling the glass in a bottle reduces energy consumption by a third, while cleaning and reusing the bottle itself can save as much as 90 percent of the energy required to make a new bottle.
Germany has pioneered the idea of life-cycle product planning and responsibility. Government mandated programs encourage manufacturers of automobiles and household appliances to assume responsibility for the disassembly, reuse, and recycling of their products. Besides being environmentally sound, this practice relieves the consumer of the burden of disposing of those items at the end of their useful lives. Life-cycle management can be carried out through lease agreements in which the ownership of the item remains with the manufacturer, which becomes responsible for both maintenance and disposal and thus has an incentive to design products for maximum durability and ease of recycling.
Governments can encourage producers to design their products and packaging to limit disposal by charging them a fee to cover the estimated public cost of eventual disposal. Governments can also require that multisized and odd-shaped beverage and other containers be replaced with standardized, durable, glass containers that can be reused many times simply by washing and relabeling.
Individual consumers are regularly urged to sort and recycle discards ---an important but insufficient measure. Many of the most important decisions are out of our hands, and much of the garbage related to our individual consumption is created and discarded long before any product reaches us. The market rarely offers us a choice of a daily newspaper printed on recycled paper using nontoxic, biodegradable ink. Nor can we ensure that the dutifully bundled newspapers we place at curbside for recycling will indeed be recycled. Such decisions lie in the hands of publishers, paper manufacturers, politicians, and government bureaucrats.
Over a twenty-year period, assuming current levels of recycling, the typical American household "consumes" the equivalent of roughly 100 trees in the form of newsprint. Sixty to 65 percent of that newsprint is devoted to advertisements. Even though we may never read and have no interest in the ads, we are not given the option of subscribing to a paper without them.
According to the Worldwatch Institute, "most materials used today are discarded after one use --- roughly two-thirds of all aluminum, three-fourths of all steel and paper, and an even higher share of plastic. " The physical environment is disrupted to to extract the materials involved, vast amounts of garbage are generated, we work extra hours to earn the money to keep replacing what is discarded, and we become beasts of burden endlessly toting replacements from the store to our homes and then out to the garbage. This may be good for the economy, corporate profits, and executive salaries ; but it degrades the quality of our living.
Recycling not only reduces the environmental costs of resource extraction, it saves energy as well. Producing steel from scrap requires only a third as much energy as producing it from ore, reduces air pollution by 85 percent, reduces water pollution by 76 percent, and eliminates mining wastes. Making newsprint from recycled paper takes 25 to 60 percent less energy than producing it from virgin wood pulp, while reducing the release of air pollution by 74 percent and water pollutants by 35 percent. Reuse produces even more dramatic gains. Recycling the glass in a bottle reduces energy consumption by a third, while cleaning and reusing the bottle itself can save as much as 90 percent of the energy required to make a new bottle.
Germany has pioneered the idea of life-cycle product planning and responsibility. Government mandated programs encourage manufacturers of automobiles and household appliances to assume responsibility for the disassembly, reuse, and recycling of their products. Besides being environmentally sound, this practice relieves the consumer of the burden of disposing of those items at the end of their useful lives. Life-cycle management can be carried out through lease agreements in which the ownership of the item remains with the manufacturer, which becomes responsible for both maintenance and disposal and thus has an incentive to design products for maximum durability and ease of recycling.
Governments can encourage producers to design their products and packaging to limit disposal by charging them a fee to cover the estimated public cost of eventual disposal. Governments can also require that multisized and odd-shaped beverage and other containers be replaced with standardized, durable, glass containers that can be reused many times simply by washing and relabeling.
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