Materials Efficiency

Industrialized society’s voracious consumption of virgin and synthetic material resources such as timber, minerals, metals, plastics, glass, and concrete increasingly depletes our ecosystems’ natural capital and produces enormous amounts of waste and pollution. Residents of the industrialized world comprise only 20 percent of the world’s population, yet consume 86 percent of the world’s aluminum, 81 percent of its paper, 80 percent of its iron and steel, and 76 percent of its timber (Source: The Next Efficiency Revolution: Creating a Sustainable Materials Economy, Worldwatch Institute, 1994). 

Using our material resources much more efficiently to prevent resource depletion, waste, and pollution is a critical component of sustainability. Materials efficiency requires the following: 

• designing all goods and services to require much less virgin material 

• creating policies that promote and support materials conservation, recovery and efficiency 

• developing creative strategies for materials efficiency and waste prevention in homes, businesses and institutions 

• recovering the maximum amount of materials from the waste stream 

• fostering a robust economy for secondary (recovered) materials