Sustainability
It is all about Sustainable Development. Famously defined by Gro Harlem Brundtland as:
"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
That was almost forty years ago in "Our Common Future". While my, and much of the media's, main focus has quite rightly been on Climate Change, I cannot, however, ignore other aspects of sustainability. Such aspects may directly reduce carbon emissions or sequester carbon while others support resilience. Resource conservation and the circular economy can deliver more from less. Recycling of and energy recovery from products at end of life and waste reduction in manufacturing reduces landfill and demand for polluting and e energy intensive extraction of raw materials. Some sectors have performed reasonably well but there are still many areas for improvement.
Domestic recycling has improved over the decade since EWM’s first posts on the shockingly poor rates but there are still many items which cannot be recycled. Many recycled materials are still “down cycled” in that they are re-used but for a lower grade function than the original material. In these cases, the initial product or material is often still manufactured from virgin materials.
Many recycled materials, such as aluminium drink cans, require less energy to produce than those made from virgin materials, as well as less environmental degradation from mining and extractive industries. This gives a win for climate change as well as habitats and pollution risk.
Critical resources extend to water and soil in many parts of the world. Water shortages due to over extraction or pollution can cause human health problems, habitat loss, local climate change and crop failures. It can also lead to deterioration of the soil health, as can many intensive agricultural practices.
Taken together, resource use optimisation is a massive field for enquiry and this is reflected in some EWM posts including:
Water Saving : While the West of Scotland is blessed with copious quantities of fresh water, there remains a strong case for saving water, or at least not being wasteful.
Plastic Recycling : Some plastics can easily be recycled and can be used to produce equal or higher value items, while others remain a challenge. Some information in this 2012 post has been superseded as film can now be recycled in Glasgow
Mechanical-Biological-Treatment : A brief summary of MBT and critique of how it compares with recycling as a method to reduce landfill and extract value from waste.
These posts may be a little dated and heavily focused on recycling but they serve to highlight some very real issues. Sustainability goes beyond recycling and waste reduction, including biodiversity, habitat management, species extinction, agriculture, mining, infrastructure pollution and society. It's such an broad topic for discussion...
EWM, June 2026
For further reading, browse posts tagged for Sustainability or a combination of Sustainability AND the following tags :