ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the core premise of this book, which is that our society is consuming the Earth’s limited natural resources at an unsustainable rate and trashing the planet by simply discarding things when they are no longer wanted. And this is all driven by seemingly insatiable global consumerism.
A second core premise of the book is then presented, which is that what is described as Household Waste is actually materials or products that are no longer wanted or needed by consumers, but which still have an intrinsic value; they are not “waste”.
The process by which natural resources are extracted or farmed, before being turned into raw materials for the manufacture of products, packaging and foodstuffs is presented, followed by a discussion of how things were different in the past and what changed.
Data are presented showing the accelerating rate of consumption of the Earth’s natural resources, with a particular focus on rare earth metals. The possibility of replacing some finite natural resources with renewable resources and the concept of the “waste” outputs from one process becoming the raw materials for another process, i.e. mimicking nature, is discussed. The problems associated with landfilling and Energy from Waste incineration are presented, together with a call for an urgent Government ban on the exporting of Household Waste for recycling.
