2. What is Sustainability?
- Fiona Rennie
- Mar 8, 2020
- 2 min read
Sustainable’ is a widely known environmental term. However, it is often used loosely and without clear definition. Companies engaging in greenwashing tactics may misleadingly refer to their plastic products as ‘sustainable’. It is important then to understand what sustainability really means, why it is so important and if a sustainable plastics system is possible.
The World Commission on Environmental Development (WCED) introduced the idea of ‘sustainable development’ in the 1987 report ‘Our Common Future’. It is defined as ‘[meeting] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. For the first time, this highlighted the importance of aligning human development needs with the long-term needs of the planet.
In general, sustainability is about being able to continuously maintain a process over time. To be environmentally sustainable, this means only using resources now that you can continue using indefinitely, and without causing irreversible harm to the environment. In this way, future generations can still meet their own needs.
The WCED report argued that when thinking of the environment, social and economic sustainability are important too. There should be a balance between environmental protection, economic growth (is it affordable?) and social needs (are communities, jobs and human health protected?).
Sustainability is so important, because it prioritises both environmental and human wellbeing in the long-term.
There are sustainability problems across the life cycle of plastics; from production, distribution, consumption and disposal. Almost all plastics are made from non-renewable fossil fuels and are therefore inherently unsustainable. Throughout their life cycle plastics cause accumulating harm to climate, human health and ecosystems. This impact is greater than the environment’s ability to restore itself and so is unsustainable.
A more sustainable plastics system should involve harm-reducing changes across the entire plastics life cycle.