Waste Prevention
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Chapter II Chapter Two Waste Prevention 1. Introduction Terms introduced in this chapter include: Waste Prevention Waste Prevention Precycling In the United States, each person uses, directly or Consumerism indirectly, about 125 pounds of material every Eco-marketing day. That amounts to 23 tons per year per person. Degradable U.S. citizens constitute about five percent of the Recyclable world population but use 25 percent of the natu- Consumable products ral resources. U.S. national waste equals at least Durable products 250 trillion pounds and only five percent of that Planned obsolescence is recycled. For every 100 pounds of product Mixed-material package manufactured, 3,200 pounds becomes waste Composite material packaging through natural resource extraction and pro- Disposable product cessing. It appears to be easier to create waste The Natural Step than to create products. Sustainability Source reduction Solid waste generation in Linn and Benton Selective shopping Counties is beginning to decrease. Figure II-1 Bulk buying illustrates the per capita waste generation rates from 1998-2012. is one of the most effective ways to decrease The question: What can be done to further household garbage. It is easier to manage gar- check the flow of garbage? bage by preventing it than to deal with it once it is created. Reducing waste this way is called Recycling and composting reduce waste. How- waste prevention, sometimes referred to as ever, preventing waste before it enters the home precycling. In the hierarchy of solid waste Waste Generation, Linn and Benton Counties 3000 2500 2000 1500 Benton 1000 Linn Pounds per Capita (lbs) 500 0 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Year Figure II-1. Per capita waste generation rates 1998-2012. DEQ 2012 report. Master Recycler Program 2020 Page 17 Chapter II management techniques, this is the first step. ucts, it can also influence individuals to buy things they do not need. The September 2007 The goal of waste prevention is to save landfill U.S. trade deficit (the difference between how space and, even more, to save natural resources much the U.S. buys from other countries and the and energy. Whenever one buys a product, one amount other countries buy from the U.S.) was impacts the earth. However, if one buys products 56.5 billion dollars. The other countries spent that are made to last, repairs what is bought, re- the dollars to buy U.S. debt securities, like Treas- uses what one has, and selects products with ury Bills, which puts them in the position of fi- minimal packaging, one has less impact. These nancing the massive personal and governmental steps save resources and energy, and avert the debt which have been incurred. Economists say pollution caused by extraction, manufacturing, that this level of consumption is both environ- and disposal. mentally and economically unsustainable. Before addressing specific ways to prevent As in the examples above, advertisers rely on waste, here are some factors that shape purchas- many themes: happiness, youth, status, fulfilling ing habits. relationships, success, luxury, convenience, com- fort, and beauty. Marketing products for conven- 2. Consumption ience, like paper towels or plastic wrap, is espe- cially alluring. "Time-saving" instant/micro- As consumers living in a market economy, one wavable meals (many of which still include non- needs to be aware of influences on product pur- reusable microwave dishes) are common on the grocery shelves. Linking this theme with ease of disposability, from a marketing point of view, is a golden egg. It ties the act of using with the act of using up. Thus, culturally, waste becomes an integral part of the consumption process. chasing decisions, types of packaging, and the Now that many consumers are more environ- purpose for which packages are designed. mentally conscious, industries have launched eco -marketing campaigns that often have little A. Consumerism and Advertising bearing on the environmental soundness of the products or their packaging. They use terms U.S. culture says that the well being of the econ- such as: omy is linked to consumption of goods. The me- Biodegradable dia says that higher levels of consumption lead to Photodegradable a higher quality of life. “Feeling bad? Take this Recyclable pill! Drink this to be more popular with the la- Environmentally friendly dies, or smoke these and you’ll be cool. Wear Earth-friendly clothes with this label to be sexier. Buy this and Bio-green she’ll love you more!” The goal of advertising is Made of recycled content to generate the purchase of products or services, Degradability has been an eco-marketing theme but it also produces a primary belief system that for plastic bags and disposable diapers for years, dictates the way persons should behave and func- yet studies show that bags claiming to be photo- tion. All consumption contributes to the gross degradable did not degrade after 10 weeks of ex- national product (GNP), the total value of all posure to sunlight. In bags that contain starch to goods and services produced in the economy in promote biodegradability, only the starch de- one year. Because economists use GNP as an graded. Many forms of packaging do not degrade indicator of the strength of the national economy, in the anaerobic environment of a landfill where it appears that the more products and services they may be buried at least 20 feet deep. consumed, the better off the economy will be. A recycling symbol on a product label or pack- While advertising DOES provide consumers age can mislead recyclers. The symbol may at- with information about new and improved prod- tempt to indicate that a product or package is re- Page 18 Master Recycler Program 2020 Chapter II cyclable, but because local market conditions vary, the packaging material may not be recycla- Disposable products like paper and plastic ble in a particular community, rendering the item dishware and utensils, non-rechargeable batter- NON-recyclable. ies, and personal-hygiene items are designed and produced for limited-time use. Among the first Recyclability requires collection, processing, and disposables on the market were hospital supplies manufacturing systems. The absence of this recy- such as syringes and gloves. They were promot- cling infrastructure is a common problem with ed as being more sanitary than their durable plastics. Many markets that exist in the counterparts so their use became widely accept- Willamette Valley do not exist in Central or ed. Eastern Oregon. It is therefore wise to become aware of local recycling markets, and to consider Use of disposables has spread from the hospital these when making purchases. into the home with home products being de- signed more for convenience than hygiene. They Eco-marketing, the method of making packages were originally intended as backups to durables, look "green" or eco-conscious, may be a mis- not substitutes. Paper towels, for example, were leading strategy. Read the fine print and be fa- designed for the occasional big spill, but today, miliar with the eco-marketing terms listed above. paper towels have replaced reusable cloth towels "Environmentally friendly," "earth-friendly," and in most homes. Toilet bowl scrubbers, mops and "bio-green" are meaningless terms. Until stand- dusters are other household products that are be- ards are set for such terms, they may continue to ing replaced with disposable counterparts. be used as advertising gimmicks. C. Product Obsolescence However, not ALL eco-marketing is misleading. For example, packaging which states that its ma- Another, more subtle, form of the disposable terial is made with pre- or post-consumer content product is the durable product designed for obso- is usually legitimate, and both help to prevent lescence. There is quite a difference between a waste AND provide markets for the material one product that is obsolete because it is truly worn wishes to recycle. out and a product that is obsolete because it is out of fashion. The latter, planned obsolescence, B. Types of Products is the work of marketing. There are three types of products produced and An advertising executive, Earnest Calkins, is of- then purchased by consumers: consumable prod- ten given credit for introducing the strategy of ucts, durable products, and disposable prod- rapid, planned stylistic changes into 20th century ucts. business thinking. "The purpose is to make the Consumable products include items like food customer discontented with his old type of foun- and fuel. When consumed, these products are tain pen, kitchen utensil, bathroom, or motor car, permanently transformed into energy and waste. because it is old-fashioned, out-of-date. The Gasoline is an example of a consumable product technical term for this idea is obsoletism. We no that propels cars while it produces waste that longer wait for things to wear out. We displace pollutes the air. them with others that are not more effective but more attractive." (Modern Publicity, 1930) This Durable products include clothing, furniture, strategy of planned obsolescence is common in and tools. These products can be used over and many industries, most notably computers, cloth- over again and can be maintained and repaired to ing, sporting equipment, home interiors, and au- sustain their life. Only at the end of their useful tomobile design. lives do the majority wind up in the solid waste stream. For example, a sweater can be main- Annually, clothing manufacturers forecast popu- tained by washing and be repaired by darning to lar colors and styles for the upcoming season. last for many years. How well a product has Year after year, consumers purchase fashion that been made and maintained influences how long is "in." Louis Cheskin of the Color Research In- it endures. stitute says "most design changes are not made Master Recycler Program 2020 Page 19 Chapter II How Long Does Litter Last? PAPER 2-4 Weeks BANANA PEEL 3-5 Weeks ROPE 3-14 Months WOOL CAP 1 Year CIGARETTE BUTT 2-5 Years DISPOSABLE DIAPER 10-20 Years HARD PLASTIC CONTAINER 20-30 Years RUBBER BOOT SOLE 50-80 Years TIN CAN 80-100 Years ALUMINUM CAN 200-400 Years PLASTIC 6-PACK HOLDER 450 Years GLASS BOTTLES Many, Many Years Figure II-2.