Weekend Economists Chart the Bradbury Chronicles, June 8-10,2012

[DemReadingDU]

106. Waste Based Society

An occasional poster at The Automatic Earth,

6/7/12 Reverse Engineer: Waste Based Society

Perhaps my first recollection of becoming aware that we were running a wasteful and unsustainable paradigm came from the original Coke Bottles, also made of Glass and also quite distinctive in shape. I was probably only 5 years old most when I couldn't understand WHY we were throwing out these very nice Bottles which clearly could be reused many times over.

Eventually "recycling" became the word of the day, and you were supposed to separate your Trash into separate Bins, one for Glass, one for Aluminum Cans, one for Plastics of various kinds, one for Paper and one for Organic Waste, aka food leftovers mainly in the typical Suburban Household of the 1970s. Of course, having 5 different trash receptacles in the Kitchen never really gained all that much traction and eventually this worked down to 2, "recyclables" and non-recyclables. Somewhere, some Unidentified person sifted through the Recyclables trash on a conveyor belt separating out the Glass, Plastic, Paper and Aluminum.

Just looking at the Glass though, how was it "recycled"? The Bottles were not sent back to Coke Plants whole for rinsing and re-using, they were Crushed, melted down and Molded again into a new Coke bottle, or some other kind of bottle or Jar or maybe automotive windshield. How much Energy was saved by recycling a Gas bottle? Not much if any, and probably actually was net waste when you consider the transport issues.

more...
http://theautomaticearth.com/Energy/waste-based-society.html


and part 2
6/9/12 Waste Based Society II: Vendor Financing & Planned Obsolescence

Why do we run a Waste Based Economy (WBE)? It seems illogical on the surface, but there is a fundamental reason for it.

The reason is this: In a Conservation Based Economy, nobody gets OUTRAGEOUSLY rich!

more...
http://www.doomsteaddiner.org/forum/index.php?topic=160.msg3156#msg3156