Sustainable Manufacturing in China

by Dr Richard Farr

At some point in the recent past, you have probably found yourself squeezing the last little bit out of a toothpaste tube, or standing a shampoo bottle upside-down in an effort to get at the dregs. Another good trick is to hold an exhausted can of shaving foam under the hot tap; the resulting expansion of the gases inside makes it work one last time, and gets us on our way to work looking adequately groomed.

We may be experts on logistics and planning, but we all run out of toiletries from time to time. At times like these, it’s interesting to see just how small a quantity of toothpaste we really need to brush our teeth, and the same is true of shampoo and so on. When these things are in short supply, we managed to get by with relatively little.

When the tube, bottle or can is reassuringly heavy, we splurge. And yet toothpaste isn’t food. We don’t actually derive satisfaction from using it in quantity; nor does using only a little leave us feeling particularly unsatisfied. So why don’t we always treat a bottle of shampoo as if it were running low? It would last longer if we did this, but we never do. This suggests that one of the barriers to leading a ‘greener’ lifestyle may be psychological, in that when we think of something as being abundant, we are more likely to waste it.

The first decade of the 21^st century has been a time when more and more people are waking up to the fact that a lot of the materials that we have been taking for granted are finite in nature. We are finally overcoming the idea that all we have to do is look a little harder, and we will find more coal, metals, and landfill space. At last, we recognize that the ‘toothpaste tube’ of resources is starting to look a little flat – and that money can’t necessarily buy us another one.

I remember one Sunday night when I was on holiday, driving down a lonely highway where every petrol station I reached was closed. I had a quarter of a tank of fuel, but no idea how far I might have to go before I found more. Faced with the possibility of being stranded, I tried to drive as efficiently as I could. I switched the air conditioning off; I kept my speed down, and accelerated only gently; I cornered as smoothly as possible to maintain my momentum…

This is how we behave when we are faced with a shortage. It’s the driving equivalent of squeezing your toothpaste tube methodically from the bottom, in search of that last droplet. Many businesses have already experienced temporary supply problems, or have had to cope with rising prices for materials, and they react the same way; by looking for efficiencies.

The ‘psychology of shortage’ might wreak some interesting changes on our economy and our society. To continue the toothpaste analogy, if we use that little bit less right from the start of a new tube, what happens? The laws of supply and demand suggest that the price of toothpaste will fall, so we are not only buying it less often, but paying less for it. We win twice – and since toothpaste is made from materials that are themselves commodities, the price of other goods may also fall. Similarly, if we use a little less petrol (by staying home, or using the train once in a while), the effect is again magnified – not least because by staying off the road, I reduce congestion and thereby reduce the amount of fuel that everybody else uses. (Of course, this is all bad news for governments, in terms of the revenue that they obtain in the form of taxes. It’s good news for the environment, though. Doesn’t this indicate a conflict of interest? Are we entrusting the care of our resources to the right people?)

We can expect social changes, too. In the same way that wearing a fur coat is now thought of as a symbol of cruelty, the conspicuous use of resources might become socially unacceptable. (Observe how many media-savvy public figures are careful to be seen driving a Toyota Prius nowadays…) In terms of comfort level and performance, the Prius is the motoring equivalent of using a little bit less toothpaste; it’s somewhat bland, but it does an adequate job… and as we have seen, small improvements can have a cumulative effect.

My night drive (also in a Toyota, but not a hybrid) had a happy ending. Although the needle on the fuel gauge had long since bottomed out, we reached a tiny little town called Waikikamukau. The petrol station wouldn’t open until the next morning, but at least there was a place to stay. By driving as efficiently as I could, I had won enough time (more properly, distance) for a solution to present itself.

Next morning, I was able to buy sixty litres of petrol. I went back to driving hard… with the air conditioning on, naturally!

Our modern society can be thought of as a system that uses much the same technology and fuel as that hire car. The question, now, is whether we will manage to eke out our diminishing supply of energy and other resources for long enough to find a lasting solution to our more serious problems. Technological improvements may win us time, but the real solution will require a psychological shift as well – on a planetary scale.

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