Things I love about the recession – part 1
Monday, May 11th, 2009
Amidst all the doom and gloom and very real economic pain, one happy effect of the recession, at least in the UK, is a massive reduction in waste. Instead of carelessly throwing out food, people are buying less and using more. In England, local councils and waste management companies are reporting a drop of up to 10 per cent in waste collection in recent months, a fall that the UK environmental charity Waste Watch estimates could result in a massive reduction of 2.5 million tonnes in waste production in 2009 – enough rubbish to fill Canary Wharf five times over. I don’t have the figures for Ireland but suspect the same is going on here. Which makes you wonder how much people were throwing out in the first place! There are a few reasons offered for this change: a shift in public attitudes away from extravagant living; a drop in the amount of white goods (like washing machines and TVs) being thrown out; and a fall in construction waste, as the recession affects the number of building projects. But there’s also a rise in recycling, which indicates a social shift beyond economics. One young mother says “I suppose it is a combination of not wanting to waste money and concerns about the environment. Not being wasteful does save you money. I think a lot of people feel the same as me about not wasting things.” Less is more might be the new black!
