When we talk about global consumption, individuals in developed nations always manage to rationalize the amount of waste they produce by insisting they recycle. It’s as if, we somehow believe, recycling mitigates consumption. Unfortunately, the so-called benefits of recycling have now reached mythological proportions.
Social theorists posit that when recycling is seen as taking appropriate responsibility for excessive materialism, it might actually operate to normalize the gluttonous habits of many wealthy nations. The belief is that, in many nations, recycling allows individuals to engage in disproportionate patterns of consumption. Of course, not everyone consumes equally.
North Americans produce more garbage
It seems the wealthier the country; the more waste the citizens produce. Each year, the average American citizen produces 726 kilograms of trash. Canadians produce 1,000 kilograms per person. Individuals in the UK produce about half that amount —592 kilograms per person.
Americans make up only 4.6% of the population, yet they somehow manage to produce more than 40% of the world’s trash. North Americans generate and throw away 9 times as much waste as an individual in Central America or Africa. Clearly, not everyone consumes equally.
Producing 1 ton of paper consumes over 98 tons of resources.
Who recycles?
Nor does everybody recycle equally either. Americans recycled about 32% of their waste in 2005. Canadians recycle about 25% of their household waste. The UK is recycling less than 18% of their waste. Steel, aluminum, paper and glass continue to be the most recycled materials on the planet, but even in countries where a solid recycling infrastructure is in place, recovery rates remain low. The barrier doesn’t appear to be access to recycling facilities or lack of economic incentives for reclaiming materials, but more, a belief that we lack responsibility for the waste we produce.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
When environmentalists became preoccupied with consumer consumption in the early 1970s, the now familiar environmental adage — reduce, reuse, recycle (the 3Rs equation) — was formulated. The rationale behind the 3Rs was an attempt to illustrate the necessity, economically and environmentally, of obtaining the maximum benefit from products while generating the minimum amount of waste. It made sense then and it still does today.
Yet we seem to fixate on recycling today, forgetting or ignoring the importance of the reduction and reuse component of the equation. Recycling was always meant to be a last resort, not a free-for-all license to consume. We have to ask ourselves, with landfills overflowing, incinerators pouring out toxic pollution, a plastic island the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean, with resources like petroleum, trees and water running low, are we willing, as a species, to literally consume ourselves to death?
We lost our way for a time. Perhaps it was the seductive presence of so many bright, shiny, cheap conveniences that made us stop taking responsibility for our consumption. Or maybe it was a malaise or fatigue, an unhappiness that drove us to seek to fill the growing emptiness inside.
It is the time to bring the ‘reduce and reuse’ component back into our lives. We need to practice conscientious consumption; to become more mindful of every product, service and object we consume even if it means we literally need to ask ourselves before each purchase —Do I really need this? Where did this object come from? How was it made? How far did it travel to get to this shop? —then so be it. Each and every choice matters. Now more than ever.
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