Waste Management
As mentioned in the videos, the impact of waste production is an prevalent issue that has proven
difficult to manage. People nowadays are aware of the dire consequences of continuing to uphold this
practice, but there is little action that has actually been taken which contributes to its solution on a large
scale. America’s waste production is comparatively larger than more densely populated countries (for eg.
India, China). The estimations were that only 16% of waste is actually being put to use, while the rest are
discarded in landfills.
Despite the efforts of many establishments that have taken preventive measures to decrease the
production of unsustainable waste, statistics are largely influenced by individual factors as well. The
average American household is noted to use an abundance of one-time use products. Apart from this,
many of those recycled wastes are considered to be contaminated due to its condition or from being sorted
incorrectly. As such, a solution to this issue would be to simply sort the waste properly according to their
designated categories. Furthermore, people should practice being conscientious by keeping their trash
clean to a certain standard as well as by avoiding mixing trash with their recycled items.
China has decided in previous years to limit the recycled commodities that were being imported
from America due to this issue where the U.S. were sending faulty commodities. Among their imported
goods, a large percentage was deemed unusable as they were unable to refine them to create new
products. China has considerably cheap labor for waste assortment in comparison to the U.S. and were
most effectively contributing in the process of eliminating waste by means of renewing. Their ban
stimulated Indonesia, Vietnam, and other developing countries to also refuse the mass of unnecessary
scraps.
The loss has significantly disadvantaged American waste trade despite their efforts to improve the
management by providing opportunities for employment. It exemplifies how the lack of attention given
by the American authorities toward recycled materials have led to the drastic decrease in trade value for
their surplus of trash. From a business perspective, the situation is equivalent to the negligence of quality
in products, which reasonably leads to a drop in its selling price.
The immense consumption of unsustainable waste is also directly linked to larger corporations
and their casual use of the resources. While it is true that sustainable materials cost higher, there should be
a conscious responsibility for businesses to prioritize sustainability (3Ps). Larger corporations persuade a
better image through marketing their products as ‘recyclable’, when in truth these products are dealt with
differently.
Nowadays, the people understand the importance of being environmentally friendly and are
drawn to products associated with the character. Businesses can benefit from this through raising
awareness in their products or advertisements, even as a marketing strategy, since the intention is in fact
for the message to reach wider audiences. Knowing this, the role of the consumers should be to purchase
these products mindfully. Although, it is debatable whether the production levels of such will change with
its demands.
For people who remain unchanged against these ideologies, there can be actions taken by the
authorities to govern the production of waste by law, similar to the restrictions made against littering.
Thus where government intervention comes into play. In one of the examples, the video mentioned how
despite being marked as ’recyclable’, not all are processed accordingly due to their incapability to act as
such. Recyclability is relative, depending on which part of the product (packaging, contents, etc.) and
whether the location can reprocess the product. The fault partially lies on the government, as there should
be clearer standards and regulations on which products can be classified as recyclable. To conclude, the
solution for these waste management issues lies on many factors involving businesses, its consumers,
even the authorities.