Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
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Chapter 4: The toxic cradle of productionChapter 4: The toxic cradle of productionPost-consumer waste is what people throw away. Production waste is what is dumpedby industry while producing not just consumer goods but also <strong>the</strong> infrastructure ofstate and capital. Production waste outweighs post-consumer waste 70 to 1. Thischapter opens with some observations on <strong>the</strong> global context and <strong>the</strong> interests drivingproduction wastes. It next looks at mining, <strong>the</strong> first link in <strong>the</strong> waste chain, and <strong>the</strong>nat a number of industries fur<strong>the</strong>r along <strong>the</strong> chain: iron and steel, chemicals, plasticsand packaging, aluminium and cement.Making and wastingCapitalism is not only a “gigantic accumulation machine” [Kovel, 2002: 59]; it is alsoa gigantic waste creation machine. Its logic is to turn more and more raw materialsand energy into sellable commodities, commodities into accumulated profit and profitinto investments which <strong>the</strong>n expand <strong>the</strong> system as a whole. Its restless need for neverending accumulation and expansion means that it must keep on consuming resourcesand creating an ever growing pile of waste.Behind each product on <strong>the</strong> shop shelf lies <strong>the</strong> ‘value chain’ of production which isshadowed by a vast chain of waste and destruction. This shadow leaves a deep toxicstain that spreads through air, water and land across <strong>the</strong> face of <strong>the</strong> earth and acrosstime into a poisoned future. And it represents a cost externalised from <strong>the</strong> value chainand from <strong>the</strong> price of <strong>the</strong> product on <strong>the</strong> shelf. For corporate producers and retailers, itis not only important that this cost is stripped out to keep <strong>the</strong> goods cheap but also that<strong>the</strong> good appears without its contaminating shadow. The wastes of production – <strong>the</strong>mountainous mine heaps, <strong>the</strong> polluted spaces of production and <strong>the</strong> harsh disciplinesand toxic conditions of workplaces – must not be associated with <strong>the</strong> packaged andadvertised products on <strong>the</strong> shelf.Confronted by public unease and environmental activism, a prime corporate strategyis to move <strong>the</strong> battlefield from producer to post-consumer waste, with anti-litter andlocal beautification campaigns, and <strong>the</strong> collection of recyclables from an ever increasing<strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong> - groundWork - 79 -