The planet is being overwhelmed by waste of all kinds, from
plastic bags to throwaway digital devices. Even remote areas such as Alaskan
beaches, often refuges for rare species, are increasingly blighted by tonnes
of indestructible objects and harmful
and unsightly refuse.
The UK produces
some 228 million tonnes of waste a year. In addition to
household rubbish, there are growing mountains of agricultural and
industrial waste, as well as by-products from from power
generation such as toxic nuclear waste.
The waste issue has become so serious that the government
has been forced to work on a “waste prevention programme”. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
is due to publish the result of a consultation this December.
The way in which leading electronic brands brazenly defy the
letter and spirit of laws and regulations is a global issue. Over the last
decades a new and dangerous situation has arisen as millions of digital devices
are used and jettisoned after only months of use.
As electronic waste increases exponentially on a global scale,
a new study
from India
highlights that even where rules and regulations are in place, implementing
them is another matter.
The report reveals that state pollution control boards and
implementing agencies have failed to put any systems in place in the two years since
the rules came into force.
The way in which companies evade regulation in India is naturally as true in other countries,
including Bangladesh , China and Pakistan ,
Ghana and Nigeria which have become dumping
grounds, often from richer states, spawning an escalating e-waste crisis.
Short
Circuit, a wide-ranging report by the Gaia Foundation, documents the
scale of electronic waste on a global scale. It says that what we see as “re-cycling”
is in fact turned into “down-cycling”, and can give people (consumers), a “false
sense of security”.
Using a Buddhist term “Bardo”, the report says that humanity
is at a critical juncture and that this requires a different view of our
relationship with the earth. Amongst other proposals, the report lays down some
excellent strategies for “zero waste”.
These are: reducing consumption and discards; reusing
discards; extended producer responsibility; comprehensive recycling; comprehensive
composting or bio-digestion of organic materials; citizen participation; a ban
on waste incineration; effective policies, regulations, incentives and
financing
structures to support these systems.
You could add to the list by including a ban on unessential
packaging and the use of non-recyclables; including waste products within the
production process a whole; the phasing out of landfill as a form of waste
disposal; the nature and source of materials to be labelled on all products;
products to be vetted for built-in obsolescence; the standardisation of
interfaces for all devices and electronic products; the re-use of materials,
especially metals and minerals; and resources allocated for training in up-cycling skills.
The speeding up of built-in obsolescence in order to
increase sales is vital for corporations to generate profit as the rate of
technological change increases. It is
the system of production for profit – aka capitalism – which is at the heart of
the problem.
So, ascribing the root of the eco-crisis to human existence
on the planet as Gaia theorists do, is seriously misguided. The capitalist system
of production alienates us from nature, not our desire to consume. As the
example from India
shows, even with laws in place, the needs of corporate profit will trump
ecologically desirable ones.
Breaking away from the lethal cycle of production for profit
is the great challenge of our time. We are part of this system and consumers
within it. But we have the urgent need, the right and the power - collectively
to put an end to it before it ends us.
Corinna Lotz
A World to Win secretary
