Geology Reference
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impacts by adapting production to fit local lifestyles. This is in effect the “old”
culture of conservation.
Principle 10: Dematerialisation
Dematerialise: use less material, less water, less energy in order to manufacture a
better product.
For the majority of material products, only the service provided is of interest.
So services need to be dematerialised. To make this happen, manufacturers must
be made responsible for their products beyond their useful life and facilitate their
recycling or reuse. They shall also be responsible for keeping their products in good
condition throughout their entire life cycle.
Corollary 1: Minimise, reduce space and look up scales. A smaller volume
means less packaging, lower transport costs, reduced storage and decreased
waste. Small is beautiful
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.
Corollary 2: When minimising, presume the need for disassembly and recycling.
Corollary 3: Start by reducing those materials with the highest environmental
impact.
Corollary 4: Miniaturise as much as you can. Design at nano-scales.
Corollary 5: Simplify.
Corollary 6: Share goods and promote neighbourhood programmes where peo-
ple share cars, tools, houses, etc.
Corollary 7: Promote Eco-leasing or product-service systems.
Reflection 1: “Dematerialisation refers to the absolute or relative reduction in
the quantity of materials required to serve economic functions” (Wernick et al.,
1996). As the reader has seen in Chap. 1, an average American citizen will need
12.1 tonnes of iron ore, 2.3 tonnes of aluminum, 0.42 tonnes of copper, 0.39 tonnes
of lead, 0.21 tonnes of zinc, 45.4 g of gold, 7.7 tonnes of phosphate rock, 17.5 tonnes
of cement, 5.8 tonnes of clays, 14.9 tonnes of salt, 0.494 million tonnes of stone,
sand, and gravel, 18.4 tonnes of other minerals and metals, 230 tonnes of coal,
240.1 tonnes of oil, and 163.3 tonnes of natural gas. These figures are indicative of
several things.
One, dematerialisation of developed countries is far from being reached. In-
deed Cleveland and Ruth (1998) through thoroughly studying and reviewing the
extensive bibliography related to the intensity in the use of materials in the United
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The phrase “Small is beautiful” became popular with the topic of the same name by (Schumacher,
1973).
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