Waste, Recycling & EthicsUpdated: September 22nd, 2018
Created: August 15th, 2015Waste can define produce that is excess to requirements by the retailer and end user, especially packaging, and by-products of manufacturing they deem have no value.
The term wasteful is used to define the act of producing waste rather than the product and in doing so really refers to the person who is responsible. That the term is used more to state the act as being wasteful rather than the person shows a reticence to confront the whole person. The implication is that if the act is curtailed then the wastefulness goes away.
There is an implied ethical or moral issue around the lack of use of by-products that could be put to good use, or that it is OK to waste things that could only be put to bad use or to use any waste for bad use.
The issue to the user is whether waste can be put to what in their designs is deemed good. To the group the wasteful argument is one of ethics that bind each person to it's support group yet may not be a universal agreement.
There may be a moral use of the word waste but that would not apply to a material product.
Personally I throw away perfectly good food, and some isn't harvested and rots in situ.
Whereas it is true that those who are wanting will see value in the discards of those with abundance there is no moral issue in that either the richer or the poorer have any ethical obligation to each other. A lion may bring down a far greater animal than it is able to consume, and a single apple tree may produce more that the grower chooses to harvest.
The fact is that each of us consumes to the best of our ability and desire. There is no reason to support another competitor by actively providing excess assets.
My experience is that actively growing produce for sale reduces the value of the product as there will be no excess in the notion that I can sell larger quantities at a lower cost, meaning a continually increasing production and greater competition. My choice was to produce a convenient quantity, well beyond my own use and sell what I could term ~ excess.
As monetary gain was not a priority the interaction with other became dominant and so I would give produce away and ask the recipients to return the waste for composting. Increasing, less was returned and understandably no one would come and pick their own produce if I delivered it. So all the excess has now become waste.
If people choose to use their energy complaining about others rather than growing or producing their own consumables and cannot be bothered to collect vegetables and wood that has already been grown and ready to collect then it is they that are wasting an opportunity to use excess produce.
After all there is no such thing as waste just wasteful people, those campaigners and politicians with no moral value that try to get other people to do their dirty work for them and their ethics. They are just consumers in the chain to be consumed, so no waste their either. :)
3 comments
Have a few discussions about morals and ethics and simply ethics is a group attempt at sharing whereas morally nothing is owned.
Sam, a new prospector, said morals were deep held beliefs and ethics were more temporary notions.
To update 22Sept2018
Morality is a singular and personal issue; ethics are plural and communal. Morality is about saving the soul. Ethics are agreements on the methods the powerful use to exploit the weak and still sleep at night.