Recycling companies in other countries, such as Britain, have complained that German exports of cheap recyclable waste are disrupting the industry in their own country. Instead of using domestic waste collectors, foreign recyclers are buying directly from Germany. With some products, such as plastics, new resin is almost always cheaper than recycled resin, making plastic recycling highly unprofitable. Many environmentalists worry that recycling itself is too often seen as a panacea for all the ills of overconsumption and waste. Yet recycling is coming under increasing scrutiny as awareness grows that it, too, has an impact on the environment.
Cooper argues that one answer is to produce goods that are more durable.
He points out that Swedish car manufacturers have thrived while increasing the average lifespan of their vehicles from nine years to more than 17 years since the mid-1960s. By comparison, the average lifespan of a car in Britain is 11 to 12 years. Consume fewer products, use much less material in the products we do consume, keep things longer, make them to last. There are numerous ways consumer groups can inform their members and lobby their local and national leaders to encourage both more recycling and more reusing and reduction of waste. Because of the way tax subsidies work in some countries, new material is often cheaper than recycled material.