Annual Report - Sens

Interview
e-Recycling:
consumption and trends
Mr Heim, what are the current trends in consumer
behaviour and the use of natural resources?
Thomas Heim: The medium-term trends in the consumption
of most of the major resources are rising all over the world.
And when I refer to resources I’m including both materials and
energy. As a rule the savings achieved by means of more efficient
technologies and more recycling are offset by incre ased
consumption. Overall, as regards our environmental footprint,
we are living beyond our means. Whereas here in Switzerland
a great deal has been done to save energy in recent decades,
efforts to recycle materials are limited to relatively few types of
waste. Hence, particularly when it comes to the efficient use
of materials – plastics, metals and chemicals – there remains
a great deal of untapped potential, which technical innovations
and changes in consumer behaviour could exploit.
“As a rule the savings achieved by means
of more efficient technologies and
more recycling are offset by increased
consumption.”
I don’t doubt that the relevant innovations are ‘doable’. The real
question is whether our economy can be adapted to reducing
the depletion of natural resources. So far no one has been able
to demonstrate in practice that ‘green growth’ is feasible – the
necessary, radical separation of resource consumption from
eco nomic growth is apparent merely in approach. However, I’m
more optimistic in this respect than many of our representatives
from the business community. ‘Business as usual’ is definitely
the wrong way of going about solving the resource problem.
How can we create incentives to make consumers
behave responsibly and recognise the need to use
resources efficiently?
On the one hand, it’s the consumers who decide what to
consume, but first and foremost it is the producers who make
the products that throughout their life necessitate the consum
ption of more or fewer resources. Quite a lot is already
being done at both levels by informing people and through
14 SENS Annual Report 2011
voluntary initiatives, based on marketing considerations of
course. However, we still need to increase our efforts. For
example, customers can be better educated as to the effects
on the environment and the depletion of resources these
products cause. Large companies can use their market power
more effectively to demand more efficient use of resources
throughout the supply chain. Moreover, we should consider
more unconventional ideas: people could be allowed to buy
a notebook made of aluminium only if they take back the same
quantity of aluminium, copper, etc., in return. Or a company
could obtain maximum added value from a certain quantity of
copper instead of from a man hour as is usually done now.
Ideas like these may encounter opposition, but it is important
to remember that genuine innovations often spring from what
are initially crazy ideas which are neither taken seriously nor
thought through.
“Large companies can use their market
power more effectively to demand more
efficient use of resources throughout
the supply chain.”
Do we need statutory regulations to ensure we treat
resources responsibly or can manufacturers set trends,
for example by making products easy to recycle,
or optimising product design?
Opinions are just as divided on this issue as ever. Some
consider the manufacturers responsible players who consider
the challenges of the robust world of business, including the
resource problem, and always decide in favour of the good
of the whole. Others view manufacturers as if they were idiots
who gobble up resources, only to end up in tears when these
run out. Presumably the reality lies somewhere between the
two extremes. Bureaucratic solutions are not what I would
recommend to improve this situation. Tailor-made regulations
could indeed lead to better conditions and consequently
favour those companies at the top end of the distribution
curve. However, the existing statutory instruments are directed
at resource efficiency only in part. This should be changed