Responsible Materials Stewardship: Rethinking Waste Management Globally in Consideration of Social and Ecological Externalities and Increasing Waste Generation

Abstract

Unsustainable material extraction, use and disposal - the ‘take-make-waste’ model - places communities globally in a state of social inequalities and environmental conflict (the slow violence of polluting the air, water, and soil we all depend). Current waste management practices are designed for efficiency of disposal but do not address increasing waste generation and waste externalities. The present global waste situation is magnified by exponential increases in plastic production; misconceptions of recycling; and confusion with 21st Century materials. Addressing these imbalances requires cities to have a new understanding of waste-making processes and practices, reconceptualized as responsible materials stewardship. Responsible materials stewardship is an integrative new system for ‘re-evaluating-re-designing-restoring,’ in line with circular economy, and designed for resource monitoring; overall waste minimization and recovery; reducing materials of harm; and supporting production and use of materials that steward ecological regeneration.