ABSTRACT
The combination of a growing global population and the spread of mass consumption into rapidly ‘developing’ nations such as China and India is taking us ever deeper into a crisis of unsustainable consumption. The Global Footprint Network has rather famously suggested that on current population and consumption trends, we would need the equivalent of three planets to sustain current consumption levels for an anticipated population of 9 billion by 2050. Overconsumption has obvious negative implications for the depletion of the planet’s ‘natural resources’ and consequent reductions in biodiversity. Increasing production and consumption of goods that either have plastic components or which are wrapped in plastic has seen global production of plastic materials reach 300 million tons by 2013. Economies that are driven by a growth imperative are always looking for ways to increase the volume and speed of production and consumption.
