Materials

Beyond Waste: Managing Material Flows in the 21st Century
Fossil energies are not the only resources that are being over-used at present. Many materials are being extracted from the ground or the biosphere at a non-sustainable rate. Any sustainability strategy for 2050 will therefore have to address the problem of waste and material flows. The good news is that there are numerous economic, political, social and technical concepts available already that will help us achieve this goal.

By Rachel Cracknell

Why?
The higher the standard of living, the more resources and materials are used. This applies almost anywhere in the world: experts have calculated that the industrial nations would have to reduce their output by 90 per cent in order to stop over-exploitation of the environment.

But there is no sign of any different thinking; the world’s states subsidise raw material prices, and thus the exploitation of resources, to the tune of a billion US dollars per year. At the same time, our lifestyle promotes consumption and the growth of rubbish mountains; we spend money that we do not have to buy things that we do not need.

What?
More efficient and more profitable use of resources can maintain the living standard of the affluent at the same time as enabling economic growth for poorer people. The ultimate aim could be an economic approach working on the ‘cradle to cradle’ principle – a cyclical system in which refuse is food and no resources are lost. But clear preferences have to be established if this aim is to be achieved. Thus avoidance comes before re-use, and recycling is better than incinerating rubbish or disposing of it at landfill sites.

How?
Strategies for reducing the use of resources are already being tried out in parts of the world today. Negotiation is needed in four fields: politics, economics, social fields and new technologies. Subsidies, taxes and charging for rubbish could point things in the right direction. Architects, engineers and designers have specific obligations; they have great influence when products that are more efficient in their use of materials are to be manufactured.

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