In the developed world, society is producing more waste then ever before which is having a detrimental affect on us both socially and ecologically and on the Earth’s ability to cope. What has caused this culture of consumerism and what can we do to change?

Rachel Birch is a Scientist and Waste Researcher in Arup’s Foresight, Innovation and Incubation team. In this 15 minute podcast, Rachel explains the key factors behind our throwaway society, including new technology and how the development of new technology encourages the consumer to continuously upgrade and discard old technology. She also explores some of the many solutions to this issue, including expanding product life span, a service based economy and buying and producing bio-degradable products.