ABSTRACT
Solid waste has become an increasingly difficult problem to deal with worldwide, particularly in the urban areas that cover an ever-growing percentage of the globe. People now buy more things, because the products they have acquired break down more quickly and easily as a result of planned or built-in obsolescence (Lucas, 2002; Clapp, 2002; O'Brien, 2013). Repairing broken goods is often more expensive and less convenient than simply buying a new product, even in nations where repairing work used to thrive (McCollough, 2007; McCollough, 2012). People buy more because they can – due to increased incomes, more leisure time, and the explosive growth of places of purchase (Featherstone, 1993; McCollough, 2007; Cooper, 2010; McCollough, 2012). Owning things has come to signify status, which used to be derived from one’s work or social position. People buy more simply because others do; they buy newer versions of products that have must-have functions that are lacking in earlier versions. People desire new products because recommissioned or refurbished articles carry the stigma of being broken or soiled (Lucas, 2002). Products distinguish themselves through packaging. As Jennifer Clapp points out, ‘goods are packaged to enhance their ability to travel long distances, to give them uniformity of size for efficient distribution, to keep them sanitary, to increase their convenience of use, and to make them more appealing’ (2002: 162-163). Packaging is ‘inherently linked with the ritual of shopping, which stimulates the desire to buy and facilitates and enhances the endless loop of consumption’ (Machotka and Cwiertka, 2016: 32). To quote from a report by McKinsey & Company and Ocean Conservancy, ‘[S]pecifically, plastic packaging is increasingly used to promote food safety and preserve freshness and quality as products move over greater distances and have longer shelf-life requirements. Also, in an effort to cater to lower-income consumers, companies are shrinking product-distribution sizes, creating more units of packaging per gram of product’ (2015: 33). Ideally, all of these discarded (packaging) materials can be recycled or recommissioned, but despite many pious pronouncements and more or less idealistic international agreements and conventions, this seems to be an unattainable goal.
