Thought Pieces
Matt Johnson, Chairman of Mando Group writes a weekly column for the Liverpool Daily Post on Small Business and Enterprise. Our Wasteful SocietyWhat we waste has rarely been a bigger issue. In Business and at home, everything from energy to food is coming under the scrutiny of those driving conservation and related green issues. Creating a low carbon economy promises to deliver a big prize for those who succeed. That's why we're seeing the time-honoured carrot and stick technique being increasingly applied by our political leaders. A tax on landfill is an example. It's a function of this policy that is driving local authorities to invest so heavily in extra wheelie bins for all of us to segregate our waste at source and assist recycling. Similarly, road tax concessions for cars that guzzle less gas are now established, and we've recently seen the cash for old bangers scheme hurried onto the agenda albeit with a slightly stalling start. Its aims are twofold of course - to get older, less energy efficient cars off our roads and to inject a stimulus to the struggling motor manufacturing sector. Jury's out here. As central government strives to make our roads less polluted, local government is paying attention to the pavements and "public realm" alongside them by placing increasing numbers of recycling bins in our public spaces. Ambition knows no bounds here - one Merseyside local authority recently told a radio phone in that people were being encouraged to recycle their waste at the kerbside while another explained that old style conventional bins were actually being removed from key locations to encourage people to take their waste home with them. Lofty ambition or wishful thinking? Advances in technology in the last couple of decades have undoubtedly changed the way millions of us lead our lives. What was earlier dubbed the consumer society has become almost reckless in the way it wastes so much. This week comes news of a breakthrough that may appear of minor significance on the surface but is likely to have quite an impact. The world's biggest mobile phone makers and network operators have backed plans to create a universal phone recharger. Most manufacturers now produce chargers which work only with their own devices. The re-charger will consume 50% less stand-by energy than today's models, the GSM Association (GSMA), an umbrella group for the industry, said. Firms to back the plan include Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, T-Mobile, Orange, 3, AT&T and Vodafone. The majority of new handsets will support the re-charger by 2012. So, stand by for the introduction of collection bins to scoop up discarded old chargers. More waste - unless a carbon neutral way can be found to recycle them Charger format is not the only example of where commercial drivers have generated waste on a massive scale. How many of us fell between Beta and VHS video format in the pioneering days of domestic recording machines? And before that in car entertainment providers fought their own battle for market supremacy with audio cassettes taking on super eight cartridges. It's amazing how far a little common sense will go in such matters,. It's more surprising it take so long for those wasting so much to hear that particular penny drop. Previous Thought PiecesAdvertsBeing GR8 in O8Harry PotterNew Digital DivideLive Earth and Boeing LaunchMillennium DomeSME'sLiverpool in GreeceLocal Elections |
