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2)
… by circulating products, components and materials at the highest utility at all times in both technical and biological cycles. In plain language, this means putting research into maximising the quality of everyday products so that they serve us for as long as possible before becoming unusable.
3)
… by revealing and designing out negative externalities. A negative externality is any consequence of consumerism which impacts anyone not involved in the transaction of the good (carbon emissions from production are one such externality, as they affect everyone, not just the people buying the goods and the firms profiting from their sale). To design out an externality would be to think up ways to factor negative externalities into the price of the product.
One suggestion which MacArthur has is the movement of ownership from the consumer to the producer. For example, one would go to the shop and ‘license’ a washing machine from Bosch. In the event of the washing machine breaking or wearing down, the consumer would return the unusable washing machine to Bosch, who would replace the washing machine with a new one, and recycle the parts of the old washing machine to make new appliances.
Something that you can do is to reduce your consumption of brand new goods where possible. Buying vintage is a brilliant place to start - you can buy clothes of superior quality to the cheaply made stuff you find on the highstreet, and usually with a lower price tag, without any of the sweatshop labour, water wastage and transport emissions that the fashion industry comes with (it’s a win-win-win situation). We can also put pressure on companies to embrace recycling into their business model. You may have heard recently in the news that Michael Gove (Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) has unveiled plans to introduce a scheme where people are paid to return plastic bottles to be recycled by the drinks industry. This is a fantastic step in the right direction, and we the public should make our voices heard so that the government knows that we will make sure that this issue is seen through to finalisation and that we will keep pushing for further positive changes.