Over Consumption

World Watch has produced a report that reveals that excessive consumption is having serious consequences for the well being of people and the planet, and leading to societies with bulging landfill sites, declining fish stocks and rising obesity levels [1].

Richer countries need to consume less if we are going to live within our environmental limits and allow others their fair share of the earth’s resources [2]. Poorer nations and communities are going to bear the brunt of the pollution caused by over consumption [3]. If our patterns of consumption in the UK were repeated around the world, by 2050 we'd need an extra 8 planets.

Friends of the Earth is calling on the UK Government to:

• Introduce economic measures to reduce our use of the world's natural resources. Manufacturers should be penalised for using virgin materials where they could use recycled materials instead [3].
  
• Find a new way to measure quality of life, rather than rely on GDP to signal the need for more and more economic growth. The review of the Sustainable Development Strategy in 2004-5 is a perfect opportunity to do this [3].

Taking action on waste is essential. We consume natural resources at an unsustainable rate and contribute unnecessarily to climate change. Each year we generate about 100 million tonnes of waste from households, commerce and industry [4]. Most of this ends up in landfill, where biodegradable waste generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. And much valuable energy is used up in making new products which are later disposed of, also contributing to climate change [4].

Some facts and figures about waste and recycling in Gloucestershire [5]:

• Each year we throw away £36m worth of aluminium into landfill sites.
• Glass bottles and jars will never decompose.
• It takes 24 trees to make 1 tonne of paper.
• 7 million trees are chopped down each year to produce nappies for the UK market. It is estimated that it could take longer than 200 years for disposable nappies to rot down in landfill sites.
• Nappies generate 4% of household waste, and this costs the council tax payer almost £300,000 per year.
• As a county we produce 260,000 tonnes of rubbish every year. This is about 100 black bags per household and weighs almost as much as a family car!
• If you took all the rubbish that county residents produce in a year and put it into a single pile, it would be taller than Gloucester Cathedral!!
• Gloucester residents put 41,412 tonnes of rubbish in their wheeled bins in the year 2000. This is enough to fill Kingsholm Rugby Ground to a depth of 50 metres.
• Gloucestershire generates 100,000 tonnes of compostable rubbish every year. That is more than 10,000 full refuse vehicles.
• There are over 250,000 households in Gloucestershire. If every household receives one unwanted piece of Direct Mail a day, that is approximately 6 million pieces of wasted paper per month.
• Shoppers use 8 billion carrier bags every year - enough to cover London's Oxford Street almost 200,000 times.
• Almost half of the average Gloucestershire household refuse bin is made up of waste that could be composted.

Have a go at making these:

Three funky schematics from our friends at Brixton Remade, which is part of Brixton Transition Town. The first shows how to make a tetra-pak wallet, the second, a Door Snake, which is important to stop drafts, helping to reduce heating and emissions. Thirdly is a schematic showing you how to make a flower necklace from scraps of fabric.

References: date accessed 25/03/2010

1.       World Watch, `State of the World 2004'. The report can be accessed at
          www.worldwatch.org/pubs/sow/2004/

2.       Friends of the Earth (1998) `Tomorrow's World'.

3.      http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/overconsumption_wrecking_t.html

4.      http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/

5.      http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3331