We always talk about being good stewards in class. We've also talked about how the market prevents every business there ever was from existing due to demand, substitutes, and personal value of a consumer. I keep thinking about all the waste, and why the market doesn't push us in a better place to be stewards of the environment (not just resources). Take the statistic of 11.3 million tons of textile waste in America per year. Obviously throwing this much clothing away is not good for using our resources effectively, but it also releases toxic chemicals into the environment, hurting more resources. The market prevents those people from staying in business, but is there any way for the market to try to prevent businesses from getting started that prevents this from ever happening, or pushes them to be more environmentally friendly?
Very great point. The first thing I would like to point out is that market forces do encourage producers to throw out the least amount of fabric as possible. The more scrap pieces producers have going into landfills, the less of a bolt of cloth they are using. This means the more of the bolt of cloth they use, the less they are wasting, meaning they do not need to buy another bolt as soon (or as many bolts as often). The real problem in the way of waste comes from the demand side - folks throwing out their old clothes. Markets can only do so much, so the rest comes down to the heart of man. Similarly, the church can do as much as it can to feed, clothe, and house the needy, but our ultimate goal is to help them find Christ - which comes down to their heart. Some may look to government for a solution, but doing so would be short sighted. Bureaucrats are often far from the problem and lack the information. Ultimately, if the problem of waste is to be solved, it will come down to someone finding a way to monetize it. In some sense, this has already been done. Trash is collected by a company and stored in one location. Yes, the problem of waste still occurs, but the negative effect of littered streets and alleyways is much less present. Who knows, perhaps someone in the future will find a way to monetize clothing where they will be able to pay people for their old clothing (in some sense we already do this with some second-hand stores).