Economics

Current economic dogma, using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to measure society's well-being, says more is better.

It assumes economic growth must precede and drive social and environmental well-being.

However, this is a false assumption – just look at the deterioration of the environment.

"Blind growth has undermined our natural-resource wealth, produced massive pollution, destroyed plant and animal species at an unprecedented rate and changed the climate in a way that now threatens the planet."(Dr Ron Colman)

"The more rapidly we deplete our natural resources and the more fossil fuels we burn, the faster the economy grows. Because we assign no value to our natural capital, we actually count its depreciation as gain, like a factory owner selling off machinery and counting it as profit."(Dave Breuer)

The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)

This is now recognised by many as a quantum leap improvement over the GDP. It is based on the fundamental understanding that social, economic and environmental realities are inextricably linked.

"What societies really need are measures of well-being, prosperity and progress that explicitly value the non-material assets that are the true basis of our wealth, including the strength of our communities, our free time, the quality of our environment, the health of our natural resources and our concern for others."

(Excerpt from The Listener, 'The Value of Nothing', Dave Breuer, May 10 2003.)

Further information

• The Global Reporting Initiative: www.globalreporting.org
• Natural Capitalism: Creating the next industrial revolution - Paul Hawkens, Amory Lovins & L.Hunter Lovins.
  

Export Earnings

Example:

In 2001, a New Zealand plastic recycler and manufacturer exported about $4 million (80% of their product) to the US, Canada, Japan, UK, Australia, South America and Europe. They specialise in manufacturing matting products for flooring, using recycled flexible PVC and rubber from car tyres. There is not enough PVC waste available in New Zealand so they are importing scrap and virgin material. At the time they employed 20 staff and were looking at developing further.

A $100 million + Export Industry (PDF 39 KB)

 
Suggested further reading

Kaikoura's Landfill Life

Kaikoura's Landfill Life (PDF 58 KB)

Adding value

Models for resource reuse in the South East Region (Australia).

Consultation with stakeholders has identified that a key question in regards to waste management options is, "How much does material collected and processed through recycling and composting cost compared to the base case of all waste to landfill?" Communities need assistance in accessing the economic, environmental and social costs and benefits of waste management options. Sound business models are also needed to aid in the development of a resource recovery industry appropriate to the region.

Gerard Gillespie

Adding Value (Word Document 273 KB)