Unproductive use of resources
Visualization of narrower problems
Name(s):
Waste of resources
Uncontrolled waste
Unrecycled waste
Resource wastage
Nature
In a society in which a high standard of living demands particularly rapid consumption of new goods, many perfectly usable goods may be scrapped or goods may be made with a built-in obsolescence. The materials consumed in this kind of production are unlikely to be recovered in full, and are often not even partially salvaged; pollution is created by this overproduction of factory waste, scrap, and refuse, but fast profit-making industries tend to be less concerned with anti-pollution precautions. As machinery is developed to replace manpower (since it can produce more at a faster rate), so human resources are also wasted. The democratic capitalist ideal of providing universal education also wastes resources, by educating technicians or professionals for whom there may be no work either currently or in the future.
Claim
The economy of the industrialized countries depends on producing all the unnecessary luxurious and wasteful things at an ever-increasing rate. To keep up the economy requires vast waste.
Counter-claim
Solid waste increases as the number of households increases, because each household has fixed activities and purchases. As the number of divorces goes up, the number of households and the amount of garbage increases.
Narrower
Aggravates
Pollution [in 1 loop]
Prohibitive cost of basic services [in 3 loops]
Exploitation in capitalist systems [in 3 loops]
Aggravated by
Strategy(ies)
Value(s)
Reference(s)
Type
(B) Basic universal problems