I recycle as much I can, I use reusable bags, I print on both sides of a paper and that makes sleep well at nights. But is that what recycling is all about?
Hawkins presents recycling as a source of ethical self-improvement and I have come to agree with her. What recycling does is not solving a problem but putting patches on it. It gives the satisfaction to the consumer that everything is fine with buying and using something, as long as at the end he/she will throw it in the right bag. After that someone else we will take care of it and everything will balance. I get that satisfaction too but after some thought I feel like it does not really make a difference. I will put my plastic coffee cup in the recycling bin and it will be recycled but there will be hundred more plastic cups produced by the time I will have finished my action and probably not made of recycled material. “What recycling did was shift the focus of environmentalism from industry and production to households and consumption” (Hawkins, 2005:104)
As Colin Williams1, says in an article in Icon magazine “recycling has only captured the public imagination because it’s relatively easy to do, but it’s just a process of “waste diversion”, and the system only comes full circle when someone buys a recycled product”. What the article suggests? Use more oil. I believe that is where a potential and real solution of the problem lies. As future designers instead of having recycling on the top of our design requirements we should probably go for bigger life cycle. Market is full of all these incredibly cheap products in chains like Argos and Ikea but with one or two years of life using the excuse of recycling. Creating products that can be used longer would reduce the waste production, as the consumer would not have to buy new ones every one or two years. That would also move environmentalism back to production.
I am not suggesting removing the responsibility from the consumer, but sharing it with him. Help him/her to waste less.
1 Collin Williams is founder of Smile Plastics, a recycled plastic manufacturer.
"Argos value range white cordless kettle", price 4.79 GBP, life 1-2 years
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4219639/Trail/searchtext%3EKETTLE.htm
Hawkins, Gay. (2005) "Plastic Bags: Living with Rubbish". International Journal of Cultural Studies. SAGE Publications
McGuirk Justin. (2008) "Worried about the oil crisis?". Icon Magazine. Issue 64. Page 120-126
Hawkins presents recycling as a source of ethical self-improvement and I have come to agree with her. What recycling does is not solving a problem but putting patches on it. It gives the satisfaction to the consumer that everything is fine with buying and using something, as long as at the end he/she will throw it in the right bag. After that someone else we will take care of it and everything will balance. I get that satisfaction too but after some thought I feel like it does not really make a difference. I will put my plastic coffee cup in the recycling bin and it will be recycled but there will be hundred more plastic cups produced by the time I will have finished my action and probably not made of recycled material. “What recycling did was shift the focus of environmentalism from industry and production to households and consumption” (Hawkins, 2005:104)
As Colin Williams1, says in an article in Icon magazine “recycling has only captured the public imagination because it’s relatively easy to do, but it’s just a process of “waste diversion”, and the system only comes full circle when someone buys a recycled product”. What the article suggests? Use more oil. I believe that is where a potential and real solution of the problem lies. As future designers instead of having recycling on the top of our design requirements we should probably go for bigger life cycle. Market is full of all these incredibly cheap products in chains like Argos and Ikea but with one or two years of life using the excuse of recycling. Creating products that can be used longer would reduce the waste production, as the consumer would not have to buy new ones every one or two years. That would also move environmentalism back to production.
I am not suggesting removing the responsibility from the consumer, but sharing it with him. Help him/her to waste less.
1 Collin Williams is founder of Smile Plastics, a recycled plastic manufacturer.
"Argos value range white cordless kettle", price 4.79 GBP, life 1-2 yearshttp://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4219639/Trail/searchtext%3EKETTLE.htm
Hawkins, Gay. (2005) "Plastic Bags: Living with Rubbish". International Journal of Cultural Studies. SAGE Publications
McGuirk Justin. (2008) "Worried about the oil crisis?". Icon Magazine. Issue 64. Page 120-126
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