Australia – wasteful consumption costs more than A$10 billion pa

A discussion paper from the Australia Institute, disseminated by Ecorecycle Victoria suggests that total wasteful consumption in Australia amounts to over A$10.5 billion dollars annually spent on goods and services that are never or hardly ever used. Types of wasting behaviour are identified, and typical patterns of consumption highlighted in order to better understand Australia as a consumer society



This paper is the first to explore the phenomenon of wasteful consumption in Australia. It is based on a national survey of 1644 respondents carried out by Roy Morgan Research in November 2004. The survey was designed to assess the extent of behaviour that can be defined as wasteful consumption together with its prevalence among different types of households and individuals. It also set out to understand some of the attitudes associated with wasteful consumption.



The survey asked respondents to estimate their expenditure on the goods and services they purchase but do not use and their attitudes to spending on things that go unused. When aggregated across all of the items included in the survey, on average each Australian household wasted A$1226 on items purchased but unused in 2004. This is approximately equal to one month‘‘s repayments on an average Australian home mortgage. Total wasteful consumption amounts to over A$10.5 billion dollars annually spent on goods and services that are never or hardly ever used. By way of comparison, this amount exceeds spending by Australian governments on universities and roads. This assessment of the extent of wasteful consumption is likely to be a significant underestimate, both because some major items were not included in the survey (excessively large houses, rarely used holiday homes and caravans and second cars), and because there is evidence that respondents appear to have understated the extent of their wasteful consumption.



Australians can be divided broadly into four types according to the amount of wasteful consumption they engage in and their attitudes to spending on goods they do not use. The four types are as follows.



Guilty wasters: accounting for around 14 per cent of the population, these are people who say they feel guilty when they buy things they do not use but are wasters nevertheless.

Who cares wasters: also accounting for around 14 per cent of the population, these are people who say they are not bothered about spending money on goods and services they don‘‘t use. Whether big wasters or not, they are relaxed about buying things that are not subsequently used

In-denial wasters: accounting for around 15 per cent of the population, indenial wasters are those who waste a lot but say they hardly ever buy things that don‘‘t get used. ·

Saints: these are Australians who waste little, think carefully about how much use they are going to get out of the things they buy and feel guilty when they do waste things. Around 40 per cent of Australians fall into this category.



Spending by Australian households on the main areas of waste surveyed is reported. Food accounts for most wasteful consumption. Overall Australians threw The Australia Institute viii away A$2.9 billion of fresh food, $630 million of uneaten take-away food, $876 million of leftovers, $596 million of unfinished drinks and A$241 million of frozen food, a total of A$5.3 billion on all forms of food in 2004. This represents more than 13 times the A$386 million donated by Australian households to overseas aid agencies in 2003.



Analysis of wasteful consumption by demographic characteristics reveals that:



· young people waste more than older people. Wasteful consumption of food, for instance, falls sharply as age increases. Among 18-24 year olds, 38 per cent admit to wasting more than A$30 on fresh food per fortnight, whereas only seven per cent of people aged 70 or over admit to similar levels of waste

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