Just finished reading a rather lengthy report produced by McKinsey (title above). It can be found on the main McKinsey site and is available for download. Its a long report, but thankfully they break it down into ‘bite size’ chunks and there is a lot of repetition so its worth the time to take home for the read (or perhaps view on a Kindle should you have one and not want to waste paper!)
With the world’s population now around the ~6 billion mark, the report makes sobering reading. Some headlines which keep recurring are that:
- 3 billion more middle class consumers expected to be in the global economy by 2030
- 147% increase in real commodity prices since the turn of the last century (yes in the last ~11 years alone)
Of course , we’re all now aware that the emerging BRIC economies are developing fast, leading to rapid and very significant uptakes in raw materials. Plus, this new wealth in the developing economies of India and China creates an ever increasing indigenous demand for more and more resources.
So what’s this got to do with recycling plastics then? As well as being some useful macro-economic pointers as to the way the world is likely to develop, its a useful reminder that it is necessary to make the best use of what we have already…therefore that often used mantra of, reduce, reuse, recycle once again comes to the fore.
Its clear with what we see immediately around us that we must make best use of our existing resources and of course that includes recycling materials that can be used again and of course the efficient use of energy to make the materials in the first place. Often this gets captured in carbon foot-printing, but the utilisation of recycled materials can be 10x more efficient that the use of virgin materials. Its also clear from this report that we’re going to see ever increasing prices for commodities whether its materials or energy and hence there is clearly a strong economic argument for recycling plastics (and other materials of course).
Simples…!
