Bad crunch, good crunch

As the Global Recession hits the world we are left with an economic crisis. As a population we are consuming less and buying fewer products and throwing away any items and products that we no longer need or want. Where this has perhaps increased the business of waste management and recycling management (economic pressure), however it is not serving well for the other parts of the economy such as the strength of the pound (£) or the shopping industry as there is less demand prices are on the increase and unemployment levels are on the rise also. This also puts a strain on those businesses already with financial problems such as Woolworths that has already closed down and Vauxhall which has always had money problems particularly the manufacturing industry in Luton.

Also in recent months taxes have risen making it more difficult to pay for things we want or even need such as our basic essentials like food, warmth, etc. this puts pressure on the economy to get it to stand on its own two feet again. With Britain becoming more sustainable and greener shouldn’t these advantages and opportunities mean something? Is it really benefiting us? These are the frequently asked questions asked by the general public, they may well be the most important and pressing questions that need answering.

Perhaps we do need to consider living in this way of life to benefit the environment to ensure it is saved, maybe it is better that we sacrifice what we want and focus more on what we need and require living within our means and not exceeding them. To be honest in my opinion we can live with this cut back, perhaps it could benefit us eventually and maybe it could have happened less brutally and the change could have been more subtle but it might be better in the long run.

Recently at the end of 2008, there was a news report in an area not far from where I live talking about how the recyclable waste is being stored in warehouses, as it cannot be recycled fast enough. This got me thinking “how much waste we produce? What is it we are actually recycling? How big the resources are?” Surely we can cope!! At the time I thought it couldn’t be possible when the recession was not so much of an issue. Now the recession has become the bigger issue, in my opinion the view of recycling has altered. Maybe with the manufacturers and shopping/commercial industries struggling to make profits, they should be considering the issue of reducing their waste more forcefully.

Also with people and employment and losing their jobs or only working a few times a week, this means that there are less people on the road which improves the fluidity of traffic and lessens congestion. This also means that with less people being able to afford to buy certain items and less able to travel abroad it means there are less people to ferry across from one country to another reducing the amount of pollution into the atmosphere. So in other worlds it allows the world to have a break, to stop suffering and to breathe cleaner and better quality air to mend itself and to allow it to heal its atmospheric wounds (the hole in the ozone layer over Australia and Antarctica).

More importantly this allows scientists, the government and NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organisations) to stand back and look at what has happened and to address any changes that they can make for the mistakes and correct any wrongs they find with their plans and schemes rather then moving onto the next issue. This way there can be improvement put into action to ensure that one problem has been solved or reduced and then the next problem can receive the attention. For the mean time this is a good thing but I doubt this recession will last as Britain will need to rebuild its economy.

I think that the government should look at taxes on goods that can not be recycled and reduce those on the ones that can. If the government increased VAT on goods that were not recyclable and reduce it on the ones that can be, then this would make the greener ones cheaper and therefore companies would be encouraged to do more in terms of recycling to make their products more competitive.