Rethinking the Concept of Waste and Mass Consumption : Preserving Resources through Reuse, Repair and Recycling / Richard Waite.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Waite, Richard, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Climatic changes.

Environmental policy.

Behavioral sciences.

Psychology.

Sociology.

Local Subjects:

Behavioral sciences.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, 2024.

Summary:

This book presents hard facts, drawn from extensive research, to highlight our unsustainable consumption of the Earth's resources and the limitations of the UK's current management of waste and recycling. Setting out a bleak picture of a world in which we are literally consuming our planet, the book explores the psychological, economic and capitalist drivers behind this behaviour. Controversially, the book examines the drawbacks of the current approach adopted by many local authorities on the kerbside collection of recyclable materials, as well as the UK governments' strategic approaches to household recycling, including the lack of UK- wide infrastructures for packaging reuse, and for product repair and recycling. It challenges the whole concept of waste, leading to a proposed new strategy for the management of household waste, including a simplified household collection system, the introduction of an incineration tax and the banning of all household waste exports. The author proposes reconceptualising waste as unwanted but valuable material and argues that the responsibility for facilitating reuse, repair and recycling, rests with manufacturers who must start designing with the end in mind. Given the current economic climate, and a dampening of the green agenda within UK politics, the book provides a much- needed call for critical discourse on how, and how much, we consume and sets out clear, practical solutions for change. The book will be of interest to manufacturers, retailers, consumers, local authorities, policy makers, students and professionals looking to reduce our impact on the environment. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Contents:

Introduction

Chapter 1: Consuming the Earth's resources

Chapter 2: What we throw away

Chapter 3: Key definitions and concepts

Chapter 4: How our Household Waste is collected

Chapter 5: How our Household Waste is treated

Chapter 6: Linear vs. circular consumption

Chapter 7: Consumerism and economic growth

Chapter 8: Let's talk about packaging

Chapter 9: A focus on plastics

Chapter 10: What we need to do differently

Chapter 11: What we could achieve if we changed

Chapter 12: A proposed way forward

Annex I: How individual materials are reprocessed

Annex II: Tips to help you to help the planet.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781003504757

OCLC:

1444155854